Neuroplastic Treatment: How it Might Work For You, Even if Nothing Else Has

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"One of my greatest joys is to observe how a series of NSA entrainment sessions can enable some people to experience a transformation of their health, mobility and quality of their life in ways they did not know were possible. I have written this article to help you understand how this might also be possible for you."
Canberra chiropractor
- Dr Jason Barritt

Nature has given us a brain that survives in a changing world by changing itself.
- Norman Doidge

If you have serious long term stubborn pain or mobility limitations related to musculoskeletal issues that have not responded well to other treatments, then this article, which explores Norman Doidge’s book The Brain That Changes Itself, could provide valuable new information for you. His book originally popularised the term Neuroplasticity.

Our world does change, and we have to adapt, especially when we are injured or have a new health challenge. However, the good news is, no matter what’s going on, our brain can usually find new strategies and abilities to not only help us cope but possibly also to help us thrive. Sometimes, it does need some outside assistance in order to stimulate it to take that action. .

Some people who have almost given up hope of improving their mobility, find they can achieve this with an effective neuroplastic method.

In some cases, I am able to help people access their neuroplastic capacity for change and repair in ways that can assist them to recover from severe injury or long term physical wear and tear, so they can reduce stubborn pain as well as physical limitations. 

“Change is the only constant in life.”
- Heraclitus.

When I studied neuroscience at UNSW in the late 1980s, I had never even come across the term neuroplasticity until I was offered a position as an honours candidate to research "Neuroplasticity in the Trigeminal System" of rats. Prior to that, universities still taught that the brain was unchanging and that, if damaged, it could not recover. This mindset limited the way treatments were designed and contributed to why so many people with injuries such as strokes or car accidents would have their treatment cut off too soon. I find this can certainly still happen, but armed with research similar to what Doidge presents in this book, I have been able to convince certain insurance companies and other third-party payers to approve further treatment in cases where they had previously stopped paying for treatment.

How To Increase Your Chance Of Making Deep, Long Lasting Stable Progress

At the time Doidge wrote The Brain That Changes Itself, he was a practicing psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and researcher on the faculty at the Columbia University Centre for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. 

With just slight movement, the joints in your body send multiple messages every second to your brain for processing so it can maintain your balance. These messages must travel via the spine. Problems in the spine may interfere with these messages.

In chapter one, when I read Doidge's account of the woman who perpetually fell everytime she stood up, I learned two new terms that scientists use in the field neuroplasticity. It was exciting and a great relief to read about these terms because I had observed the processes they represent in numerous patients but did not have the terminology to describe or explain it.

Picture by Megan Ruth, http://Pexels.com

Refractory Period: The first term is refr actory period, referring to the length of time the benefits from my particu lar neuroplastic treatment lasts. I found this exciting, not only because i t helped me to understand what I had observed so many times with my patien ts, but also because I knew it would help me explain a common and very fru strating experience my patients often encounter. That experience is for the m to feel like they are going backwards after noticing progress. I find th at to be very sad, because I have seen many times how that kind of regression may then, in some cases, be followed by further progress if the person continues to receive the treatment consistently. However, until I read The Brain That Changes Itself, I did not kn ow this aspect of the scientific understanding for why their progress can be so erratic. I felt excited when I read about the refractory period as I knew this new understandin g would help me to encourage my patients stick with their treatment program long enough to get a better idea of whether or not I was going to be able to help them ma ke deep, long lasting and stable progress.

Unfortunately, some people stop care before I can explain all this, which is one of the reasons I have written this article. My goal is for you to understand this process of healing and recovery, so if you experience regression (i.e. your symptoms return), you will be less likely to conclude "This treatment is not going to help me after all." Please let me know if you do ever get frustrated in any way. I realise that for some people, the progress is rapid and does not go up and down much at all. For them, it is easy to stay motivated. For others, it is more challenging, not just in time and effort, but also cost. Please feel free to share any of your concerns with me before you get to the point where you feel the need to give up.

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard, work, and learning from failure.”
- Colin Powell

Period of consolidation: The second term I found helpful is the period of consolidation. Doidge explained this as a period of time where progress does not appear to be happening. For example, in sport, we often hear that the athlete has reached a plateau. I find this an unfortunate term because the shape of a plateau is a rise, then a flat area, and then a decline, whereas in sport and in healing, as well as at school, what we want is overall progress towards a goal. The term period of consolidation helps us understand that progress is usually not a consistently straight upward slope. Instead, it includes periods where the body and/or the nervous system are changing and developing in ways that will soon advance to the point where we will be able to notice the benefits of that change.

That unseen change is like trying to measure progress while watching a large building being erected. If we are just measuring progress by what we can see looking from a distance on the ground, we would not be aware of the dozens of people and machinery working hard below ground level to create a solid foundation. Once that is done, have you noticed how quickly the building progresses upward?

We can't always measure progress by what is above ground and obvious. During a program of care with neuroplastic treatment, your body will be working on construction of new neural pathways before you notice all the results.

Usually, before a building starts to shoot up many floors within a few weeks, there will be many months of work in the planning, negotiations around finance and approvals, deciding which contractors and subcontractors will be involved. All of that takes a tremendous amount of work, yet no progress appears to be made on the physical building. Then work starts and it requires digging the dirt and rock, putting in pipes and laying lots of cement to make sure the building stays upright for many decades. Without that solid foundation, the building will deteriorate much more quickly. Having treated hundreds of injured people and others with chronic pain as well as many more with physical disabilities over the past 25 plus years, I have observed how a very similar process can occur in humans.

The term period of consolidation has been used in education for some time and by scientists studying memory. For example, a 2015 study states,

"Conscious memory for a new experience is initially dependent on information stored in both the hippocampus and neocortex. Systems consolidation is the process by which the hippocampus guides the reorganization of the information stored in the neocortex such that it eventually becomes independent of the hippocampus."

I know that sounds like scientific jargon, but it’s not as difficult as you may think. The hippocampus and neocortex are just the names for two different parts of the brain with different functions. My point is to give you a better idea of how much we do know about the way this process of consolidation works. Learning about this will perhaps make it easier for you to accept and be patient during times when it appears you’re not

The idea of being patient when getting well or recovering from injury is not new. After all, that is where the term 'patient' comes from!

making progress in whatever quest you are on, whether that's learning something new at work or embarking upon a treatment program to help you feel and be healthier.

Treatment frequency: Those same scientists also explain the temporary instability of new memories. This knowledge also helps us to understand why it’s important to have a sufficient level of treatment frequency to serve as reminders, just like we do when trying to learn any new complex task. So it's not surprising that when receiving a neuroplastic treatment, it can be a complex task for the body to learn to do more sophisticated repair work, therefore the treatment sessions, which can be thought of as the lessons needed in order to learn this process, usually need to be repeated more frequently at first. We all inherently know that if we learn a new task and don’t get back to it for a few weeks, it is likely to then feel like starting all over again. Yet, if we repeat it frequently enough, we can learn the new task more quickly and not forget it. Learning a language is a great example of this process. It’s better to study a new language three times a week for 15 minutes (a total of 45 minutes) than 90 minutes once a week.

Here's another quote about consolidation from the scientific article I quoted above:

"Memory consolidation refers to the process by
which a temporary, labile memory is transformed
into a more stable, long-lasting form."

Even with our best intentions we can still forget things. Our body also forgets what it has learned if it is not reminded. At the start of a neuroplastic treatment program it usually needs to be frequent, especially if the old patterns have been there a long time and are deeply hardwired.

This accounts for “the phenomenon of retroactive interference in humans, that is, the finding that learned material remains vulnerable to interference for a period of time after learning.” When I read that, it helped me further understand why it is that, when a new person comes in for their first neuroplastic treatment session with me and is very pleased with the results, but waits an entire week before returning for the second session, their nervous system is more likely to have forgotten what it learned.

By forgotten, I mean the nervous system is not "holding" the improvements as well as it would for someone who returns two to three days after their first session. This can make those people incorrectly conclude "This treatment is not going to lead to long-lasting results, so there's no point continuing." A similar process of consolidation happens on and off during a treatment program. People will often notice great progress in short bursts only then to have periods of apparent lack of progress in between those bursts of progress. But Doidge points out in his book how these periods of consolidation, where the nervous system is building new networks that will enable it to take the next leap forward in function, do of course represent very real progress within the nervous system but it may not be noticeable functionally or symptomatically. He points out that with repeated treatment sessions, further progress can be noticed again.

Working with Neurodiverse Brains

“I know the price of success: dedication, hard work, and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen.”
- Frank Lloyd Wright

The Brain That Changes Itself has been a source of great encouragement to many people with serious challenges. For example, Doidge tells the story of Barbara. “It is rare that a person who makes an important discovery is the one with the deficit, but there are some exceptions. Barbara Aerosmith Young is one of these.” At school in the 1950’s, she was regarded as retarded in some areas of mental function while having brilliance in other areas.

As Doidge puts it, Barbara reported having had trouble with questions like “Is an elephant bigger than a fly?” He reports that she said, “All I could figure out was that a fly was small, and an elephant is big, but I didn’t understand the words bigger and smaller.” Doidge describes her journey of figuring out how to help her brain overcome these kinds of limitations. She went on to develop many brain exercises and in 1980 started a school to help children with learning disabilities. He writes, “At the school, children who, like Barbara, have been unable to read a clock now work at computer exercises, reading mind-numbingly complex ten-handed clocks (with hands not only for minutes, hours, and seconds but also for other time divisions such as days, months, years) in mere seconds… By the time they finish, they can read clocks far more complex than those any normal person has to read.”

That's me learning to garden with Grandpa.

Babara’s story is a particularly interesting and important one for me personally because as a child I had learning disabilities. I struggled with spelling and writing essays. I found it hard to get the words and concepts in order. Today I would likely be diagnosed as dyslexic. To make matters worse, I had a prominent birthmark like a very large blister under my nose with blood vessels just under the skin with red and purple colours.

How I overcame my learning disability

If I had not been blessed with parents who never gave up on me by providing constant encouragement as well as multiple costly tutors, I doubt I would have ended up being able to go to university, which turned out to be something I really enjoyed and excelled at. In my final year I achieved ten high distinctions, first class honours, and a university prize. Achieving that required a lot of extra practice in the art of study over many years. It also required a good supply of grit and determination that enabled me to get up extra early at ages 13 to 15 so I could walk to the local station, catch a train, and walk a couple of kilometres to my reading and mathematics tutors. When finished, I would walk to high school. I also had help in primary school. Having now read about the benefits to the brain of learning an instrument, I realise that playing guitar from early primary school also played a big part in developing my brain that later enabled me to overcome learning impairments.

This is Mum at age 95 reading to me while I garden. As I write this, she is about to turn 98! I think good genes play a part in that achievement but there are also other things that we can do to support our heath.

Just writing that last paragraph brought back so much emotion that I could hardly read the page for tears — tears from being teased by the other kids, feelings of isolation in the playground because nobody wanted to play with me, tears of feeling stupid. I remember thinking, “I will beat this,” and so sat by myself under a comforting big pine tree in the playground and read the entire Alfred Hitchcock series while I was in fourth and fifth grades. Being different even led to being bullied for being gay in year 7 (although back then that was not the term they used).

Most of all, as I write this, I know these are tears of deep gratitude to my parents and all the love and guidance I received from incredibly devoted teachers starting very early through to the end of year 12. I can still play the scene in my head (one of my abilities) where my year 11 economics teacher explained to my parents that, while it took me a long time to complete my essays, the essays were getting really good, and while slowness made it hard for me during exams, she said “He has aspects of brilliance and will do well at university.” I reminded myself about those words many times when needing to push myself to do more hours of study. Without those reminders it would have been easy to think “What’s the point of trying?” just like the story below of the woman with two daughters.

I invented my own study scheduling system which I endeavoured to stick to. I somehow had a lot of optimism aided by an ability to forgive myself and promise to do better when I did not stick to the schedule. The schedule included getting up extra early in the morning to study. It also included precisely when I would start and stop studying different subjects as well as when I would exercise. For example, every 25 minutes, I would have a five-minute break and turn on some rock ‘n roll really loudly in the next room and do chin-ups on a beam that was part of the ceiling. It got to the point where I could do 20 full chin-ups in under 25 seconds.

“Success is a function of persistence and doggedness and the willingness to work hard for 22 minutes to make sense of something that most people would give up on after 30 seconds.“
- Malcolm Gladwell

Just like muscles, the brain can also be trained to become more efficient and effective. That improved efficiency can be aimed at healing the body and resolving symptoms. As BJ Palmer, the developer of Chiropractic, said, "We never know how far reaching

Just like muscles, the brain can also be trained to become more efficient and effective.

something we may think, say or do today will affect the lives of millions tomorrow." I have appreciated that statement for decades and yet, on a less grand scale, I would say that... We never know how what we think, say or do today will benefit ourselves and others in the future. For example, doing all those chin-ups really built up my physique, which accomplished my goal at the time of being noticed by girls.

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
- Peter Drucker

I'm confident that I would not have made that effort if my parents and teachers had not been so supportive. Setting myself goals and rewarding myself when they were achieved were also great drivers towards making further progress. That experience is one reason why I take extra time to learn so much about each new patent I see. I quantify each new patient's symptoms or other health concerns and then monitor them with periodic re-evaluations. That helps people to become more aware of their progress and to literally celebrate each win. Otherwise, when people have more than two or three symptoms, they can miss noticing some of this progress altogether. Without that, they may miss out on the reward of realising how much they are succeeding towards their health goals.

Doidge wrote the following about Barbara’s work:

Because so few others knew about or accepted neuroplasticity or believed that the brain might be exercised as though it were a muscle, there was seldom any context in which to understand her work. She was viewed by some critics as making claims – that learning disabilities were treatable – that couldn't be substantiated.

A Sense of Hopelessness

That example of Barbara being criticised for making unsubstantiated claims also describes what I have experienced many times, not only from critics but sometimes from new patients who have long-term stubborn pain, especially when combined with significant physical limitations. These people can develop a sense of hopelessness. Having talked with dozens of patients

Just because you've had spinal stiffness for a long time, and just because it has been getting worse, does not mean it can't be helped. Would it be worth the effort to find out?

with that sense of hopelessness, too many have either been told, “We have done all the tests and cannot find any problems, so it’s probably all in your head,” or “Your test results show some serious problems which you are going to have to live with because there are no treatments.” This experience can cause people to lose confidence in their own body’s ability to heal due to well-meaning practitioners who have only utilised what they know within the more traditional and well-understood methods. These treatments may work well for most people, but that does not mean they will work for everybody.

In other cases, not following through with treatment is blamed on a lack of finances and resources. I have seen many cases where the insurance company or hospital protocol restricts treatment due to limitations from cost cutting measures. Doidge tells the story of a man who had a stroke and was only given several weeks of physiotherapy in the hospital and then sent home. He was told that was all that could be done for him. Yet he still had severe disability from the stoke. Decades later he applied himself diligently to a neuroplastic treatment approach over many months that helped him regain much of his lost function.

Unfortunately, many people have never heard about the potential effectiveness of treatments with a strong neuroplastic component and some of those may continue to experience pain and/or physical limitation unnecessarily. I think it is particularly sad when this happens due to giving up as a result of developing a sense of hopelessness. A classic example of this was when practicing in Colorado, two sisters in their thirties brought their mother to see me for a chiropractic assessment. Sandra had severe pain and difficulty walking. She also had serious sleep disturbance due to pain waking her up, and had been like that for so many years that she had decided nothing could help her. I can see how people come to that conclusion when, as was true for Sandra, she had received all kinds of diagnostic studies such as x-rays, CT scans and MRIs and had been told by numerous doctors that she just needed to learn to live with it. After hearing that, she had understandably learned to accept her situation, which can be a good thing if it is true, but in this case it unfortunately resulted in her not being open to trying a very different type of treatment.
To the frustration of Sandra, here were her daughters suggesting that I might be able to help her. They told her about their own experience receiving neuroplastic treatment and wanted their mother to see it could help her. I performed a few tests on Sandra to see if certain dysfunctions were related to problems in her spine. That testing is something I still do as part of the Low-cost Initial Consultation. I discovered that at least some of her more significant problems were related to specific issues in her spine. I explained how these issues in her spine were affecting communication from her brain to her symptomatic areas. I also explained that my approach would not be to adjust (manipulate) those areas because, while that can be an incredibly effective way of helping spinal problems, she had already received that type of chiropractic care and it had not helped her.

Spinal stiffness is like water in a water logged field, pushing it out will usually mean it can return. Instead, I have found that stiffness is best reduced by teaching the nervous system how to let it go.

I then shared with Barbara that I believed the reason why adjustments had not worked for her was likely because her primary issue appeared to be extremely high levels of guarding deep within the spine and spinal cord causing very high levels of spinal stiffness. NSA practitioners call this finding "passive spinal stiffness". To me, passive spinal stiffness is like water in a swamp; you can't just pump it out and expect it to be gone, you must provide a constant drainage system; otherwise the water will come back. You can also correct the cause of the swamp by diverting the spring water somewhere else. For humans, the source of stiffness can be worry and stress, so that may also need to be worked on with assistance from other health professionals.

The residual effect of many years of worry and stress, as well as physical injuries on top of that stress, can often be released to a large extent utilising the strongly neuroplastic method I can provide. I explained to Sandra that in most cases (but not every case) on the very first detailed initial evaluation, I can objectively measure and demonstrate the release of that tension, as well as its positive ramifications in terms of reduced tenderness, muscle tightness, increased strength, and range of motion.

“That’s the problem with letting the light in—after it’s been taken away from you, it feels even darker than it was before.”
― Kim Liggett, The Grace Year

If we think of the light Kim is referring to as the hope that comes with any level of improved heath, then for some people, the fear of being let down if it were to go away again, can be too daunting to even risk trying.

I can still see and hear this dear woman’s response as well as the look of sadness and frustration on the faces of her two daughters when she said, “Oh Dr Barritt, you can’t help me, nobody can help me.” Sandra was so resigned to her condition that she would not even allow me to perform the initial thorough consultation. That consultation would have involved a detailed evaluation as well as neuroplastic treatment involving gentle touches to the spine and body. I then would have re-measured the same functional tests after treatment and have written it all up in a report to show and discuss any functional improvements at her follow-up visit.

To some extent, our ability to be active in our seniors years, may be increased and prolonged by our choices in our younger years.

We Can Create Our Own Sense of Optimism
By Taking Action

“The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.“
- Vince Lombardi

I shared Sandra’s and my personal stories with you in the hope that these may help you understand the way our mindset can negatively impact our ability to benefit from utilising a different approach to our health care. For example, you might find that my initial thorough consultation, as well as my treatment, is different to anything you have tried thus far. That might be just what you need but if, based upon your past experience, you have already decided that nothing can help you, then you might never find out if that conclusion is true or not.

The most important message I hope you get out of this article, is that no matter what you want to achieve, if it involves overcoming a significant challenge, you’ll need to acquire at least some knowledge, seek assistance, make a plan, and accept the fact that it will usually require effort, consistency and persistence. To further ensure your success, I also recommend you find sources of encouragement and monitor your progress.

A Valuable Reflection That Could Change Your Life

Many people know what they can do to improve their lives, be it further study, a career change, regular exercise or some intensive care with a health practitioner. They have the knowledge but not the courage to face it head on and so instead choose to avoid it. Do you have the courage?

Here's a way that may be able to nudge you past your fears and concerns enough to take action. Earnestly ask yourself "What would my life look like and be like, and what dreams would I be more likely to achieve, if I were to make a stronger commitment to finding solutions to my health issues?

If your quest is to reduce long term stubborn pain or physical limitations, I commit to supporting you to the best of my ability in multiple aspects of your healing journey.

Jason Barritt B Sc. (Hons), DC

To learn more about the chiropractic method I use, including how it works to create positive change in the nervous system and body, please feel free to check out this article titled "LIVE BETTER with Pain Reduction and Enhanced Performance by Unlocking the Power of Neuroplasticity". You will also learn why it can be considered to be a powerful form of neuroplastic treatment.

Click here to learn about my Low-cost Initial Consultation.

References:

Squire, L.R. et al. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. V.7(8): 2015 Aug.

 This is why using chiropractic care to reduce pain, increase strength, flexibility and endurance can be so important.

Having More Than One Symptom May Impact Your Chiropractic Care

Something I have seen many times, is when a new person presents to me declaring only one problem, it could be headaches, low back pain or even leg pain, when I ask them if they have any other health concerns, the majority of people say "yes". However, sometimes the person will say they only have one or two problems and I will end up being able to document over a dozen symptoms. This can end up being very helpful in helping the patient which is why the title of the Danish study I'll discuss below got my attention.

The way chiropractic care can, in some cases, positively impact so many seemingly unrelated conditions never fails to amaze me. That’s why I think it's so important for me to spend the time to find out about all the “other” issues people might have, and to monitor them in detail from time to time during reevaluation sessions.

On their initial visit, people usually have two or three primary problems that they share because these are the issues most affecting their life. It may be that a particular symptom is affecting their golf game or ability to sleep. However, knowing about their other symptoms which are not as big a priority may help me to better understand the cause of their most bothersome symptoms.

Further, it maybe that their body responds to the treatment I provide by reducing their "other symptoms" first. I find for deep healing to occur, rather than just superficially covering up symptoms, we must respect the needs to the body. While this maybe frustrating at first, it usually provides encouragement for the person to know that positive change is happening and to be "patient" while the body does its healing work. After all, the need to be patient is is a very old word for people with health issues.

The body will often be able to minimise or even resolve the minor symptoms more easily and faster than resolving the primary symptoms. This then provides encouragement to the person to persists with chiropractic care long enough for their more stubborn primary symptoms to have a chance to improve.

A Danish study of over 2000 people seeing chiropractors observed that for those with low back pain, there is a 20 - 49% chance that they would also have other health conditions. These issues would include things like fitness, strength, endurance, balance and chronic health issues along with the pain that was usually the primary motivation to come in and see a Chiropractor.

More symptoms tends to decrease the rate of healing.

Comorbidity is the term used when a patient is suffering from multiple health issues at the same time. If you have a comorbidity, then you are more likely to require more treatment over a longer period of time. The Danish study reported that “patients with high lower back pain intensity combined with multimorbidity showed a poorer recovery than patients without chronic diseases.” This doesn’t mean improvement isn’t possible, however it does indicate it may take longer to achieve the desired outcomes because of the complications of having multiple health issues.

It’s interesting and helpful to note that the researchers also found that “generally speaking, people with multimorbidity and co-occurring musculoskeletal pain report high levels of disability, as well as more mental health problems, physical inactivity and obesity.” It’s not clear if the low physical activity and obesity caused

the low back pain, or if the low back pain caused the low physical activity and obesity. However, if we stop to think about it, we know that it can go either way, and can start a downward spiral towards poor health. Therefore, reducing pain while increasing strength, flexibility and endurance using chiropractic care and gentle exercise can be a very effective way to improve health and quality of life for those with multiple symptoms. To see the full study, please feel free to click here.

Dr Jason W. Barritt B.Sc (Hons) DC
Chiropractor

Move better. Feel better. LIVE BETTER.

Reference: Rafn, B.S., Hartvigsen, J., Siersma, V. et al. Multimorbidity in patients with low back pain in Danish chiropractic practice: a cohort study. Chiropr Man Therap 31, 8 (2023).

Pain reduction study compares chiropractic care with nerve root injections using MRI

If you have pain, numbness, or tingling in your back or running down an arm or leg, you might have ridiculitis. Chiropractors taken care of people with this condition for over 100 years. This study provides scientific evidence for anyone with these symptoms to consider, particularly if they've had the symptoms for more than just a few weeks.

“Radiculopathy is caused by a pinched nerve in your spine. More specifically, it happens when one of your nerve roots (where your nerves join your spinal column) is compressed or irritated. You might also see it referred to as radiculitis. Radiculopathy will cause the area around your pinched nerve to feel painful, numb or tingly.”

(Accessed 19 Nov 2023) https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22564-radiculopathy

Just in case you are not familiar with these terms, acute means “characterised by sharpness or severity of sudden onset, having a rapid or short duration, or being marked by keen awareness or perception.” The word chronic means “continuing or occurring again and again for a long time chronic pain chronic illness chronic” (Miriam Webster dictionary Nov 2023)

This study returned decisive results. 86.5% of the spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) patients reported, “clinically relevant improvement at 3 months compared with 49.0% of cervical nerve root injection (CNRI) patients.” Interestingly, there were some differences depending on whether the patient was acute or subacute/chronic. The two groups were comparable when it came to acute patients. But when evaluating the subacute/chronic patients alone, “78.3% of the SMT patients reported clinically relevant improvement at 3 months, compared with 37.5% of CNRI patients.” Click here to read more.

Check this page to find out about my consultation options.

Dr Jason W. Barritt B.Sc (Hons) DC
Chiropractor

Reference:
Peterson, C., Pfirrman, C.., Hodler, J., Schmid, C., Anklin B., and Humphreys, K., (2016). Symptomatic, magnetic resonance imaging-confirmed cervical disk herniation patients: a comparative-effectiveness prospective observational study of 2 age- and sex-matched cohorts treated with either imaging-guided indirect cervical nerve root injections or spinal manipulative therapy. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. Vol. 39, Iss. 3., P210-217, March 2016, DOI 10.1016/j.jmpt.2016.02.004.

LIVE BETTER with Pain Reduction and Enhanced Performance by Unlocking the Power of Neuroplasticity

Canberra chiropractor asks...
Are you suffering from long term stubborn pain in any part of your body?

If so, you'll likely get a lot out of this article!

More and more people are finding that chronic pain, physical dysfunction and limitation in mobility, which has not responded to other types of treatment, may still respond well to various types of neuroplastic treatment. There are now a wide range of neuroplastic treatments to choose from. The method I use as a chiropractor is NSA care, which is a powerful neuroplastic treatment. My objective in writing this article is to help more people learn about the new possibilities available with Neuoplastic treatments. In this article I will also explain what neuroplasticity is, how NSA care works, and why it can be considered a neuroplastic treatment. I will also present research that found some very positive potential health benefits that may be gained by receiving NSA care.

Being a chiropractic method, NSA care targets musculoskeletal conditions. If this is something you would like assistance with then you may like to consider having a low-cost initial consultation with me. After that, if you decide NSA care is not applicable to your needs, I hope this article will have still helped you to want to explore other neuroplastic treatments that may be right for you.

This Neuroplastic Treatment may provide a noticeably different approach to pain reduction and enhanced musculoskeletal performance.

I have been asked by hundreds of patients ‘What is NSA care?’ and ‘How does it work?’ I answer these and other questions in this article, while also providing some of the scientific understanding that supports NSA care.

One of these principles includes using very gentle touches to "match the force" from one specific part of the body to another. Dr Donald Epstein, the developer of this chiropractic method extended the work of Dr Logan, also a chiropractor, who discovered how gentle contact to the sacrotuberous ligament, can stimulate the nervous system to recognise a second location anywhere in the spine and make corrections at that second area. Epstein has developed this method further and called this process an entrainment.

In a conversation I had with American neuroscientist, Dr Bob Blanks, he said he was fascinated by the predictability of the NSA method to create what he called "a strategy of self-correction". While he and I watched people receiving NSA entrainments, he pointed out the predictability of the observable responses created by touching one place in the spine and affecting another location via the nervous system.

What is neuroplasticity?

Neuroplasticity is what makes learning possible. Like throwing a ball, accuracy can only be improved with practice. This happens because our brain has the ability to develop new neural pathways (also known as neural networks).

The understanding of neuroplasticity and its potential clinical value is explained by Norman Doidge, M.D. in his popular book, The Brain That Changes Itself.

Doidge wrote “I became interested in the idea of changing the brain because of my work as a research psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. When patients did not progress psychologically as much as hoped, often the conventional medical wisdom was that their problems were deeply “hardwired” into an unchangeable brain..."

He continued with "I began a series of travels, and in the process, I met a bunch of brilliant scientists, at the frontiers of brain science, who had made a series of unexpected discoveries. They showed that the brain changed its very structure with each different activity performed, perfecting its circuits, so it was better suited to the task at hand... If certain 'parts' failed, then other parts could sometimes take over. Scientists began to call this fundamental brain property ‘neuroplasticity.' Neuro is for 'neuron,' the nerve cell in our brains and nervous systems. Plastic is for changeable, malleable, modifiable."

Perfecting your circuits

I invite you to see if we can help you work towards "perfecting" the neural circuits in your body by utilising NSA care. Improving the performance of neural circuits involved in coordinating function after injury appears to be an effective way to assist recovery. Injury in the body may have been sudden and traumatic or due to repetitive injury caused over time due to poor habits. I have found NSA care can, in some people, be a very effective way to minimise dysfunction and symptoms in the body because it is a powerful form of neuroplastic treatment. I will provide scientific evidence of this assertion in this article.

Here's how NSA care can, in some cases, be used to significantly reduce symptoms and potentially help you live a happier, healthier, more productive life.

With over 30 years studying and practising NSA care, I have found that it can support some people to reduce the musculoskeletal aspects of a wide range of conditions, including:

• improved mood

• enhanced physical performance

• increased flexibility and strength

• reduction of overall symptoms, such as many types of deeply entrenched pain syndromes, including long-term chronic tenderness.

See the scientific references at the end of this article for evidence of the above.

In some cases, NSA care can provide a very different approach to other forms of chronic pain treatment. It appears to do this by enabling a change in the communication between the brain and body as well as developing feedback from the body back to the brain.

BRAIN FUNCTION: The brain has a role to play in controlling every function of the human body.

This is achieved by:

• sending messages to the body via the spinal cord and nerves;

• receiving messages back from the body, including the muscles, organs, joints and even the skin must give feedback to the brain which processes and responds to that information.

BodyMind MindBody Interaction: throwing a ball is a great illustration of just how important the feedback loop between the brain and body is for enabling the extraordinary ability we have to move though our day while avoiding injury and to heal when we do get injured. The thousands of functions our brain and nervous system must initiate and coordinate is mind-blowing (pardon the pun). Let's imaging you are throwing a ball. Here is what would need to happen:

• You first need to set the objective. In this case the ball to hit a very specific small target 20 metres away.

• Your brain must make complex calculations and choose a neural network that you already set up as a child;

• The chosen neural network will receive new instructions based upon the calculations that take into account the weight of the ball and the distance it has to be thrown as well as the cross wind etc;

• In order for those calculations to be accurate, the brain must first receive information about the exact position of every joint in your legs, back, neck, shoulders and arms.

• a decision is made that you are ready and the messages are released;

• the messages must be sent in the form of nerve impulses down the spinal cord, out though small gaps between the vertebrae via nerves to the muscles;

• if left just up to chance alone, without learned input from your brain and neural pathways, the likelihood of you hitting the target would be close to zero. But if you have done this many times before, practicing to refine those neural pathways then you will be much more likely hit the target!

To have accomplished that amazing feat is something just about all of us can do with practice. Some of us are wired in such a way that it's easy to achieve accuracy like that, and for others, it could take many dozens of hours of practice. But in my experience, nearly anything is possible if we put our mind to it. And it can happen much faster if we have a coach. In the example above, our brain would have needed to monitor the changes in position of all the joints of your neck, shoulder arm and hand. It must calculate the distance to the target as well as the speed you are moving toward or away from the target. It must do all this while you are in the process of throwing the ball. Can you imagine what an incredibly complex task that is? That’s why, the more times you practice throwing that ball at that target, the more your brain can refine your neural networks which will improve your accuracy. This is the process called “learning” and it applies to anything we want to learn.

To get the ball into the hoop his brain must receive information from almost every joint in his body.

Spinal Problems

Problems in the spine such as misaligned vertebrae (or back bones) can interfere with the vital communication pathway between the brain to the body, as well as the feedback messages that must constantly be rushed back to the brain. There are dozens of different chiropractic methods which can help restore optimal brain/body communication.

An artists impression of nerve cells interacting together as part of a neural network.

A core goal of NSA care for me, is to develop new neural pathways in a way that helps the brain to improve its ability to coordinate the body. I think that's why NSA care may provide hope to you even if you have not yet achieved the results you’ve been looking for.

Nerve messages jump between the nerve cells called neurons. Messages are sent down a part of the neuron called the axon and received by a neighbouring neuron in an area called a dendrite. Messages move through a single neuron in the form of electrical impulses. These electrical impulses must 'jump' between the ends of axons to the dendrite of another neuron. The transfer of information from one neuron to the next is achieved via the release of chemical substances into the space between the axon and a dendrite. These chemicals are called neurotransmitters.

How might NSA care be able to help you?

As a form of neuroplastic treatment, NSA care may help you with a wide range of long-term stubborn symptoms by improving the way your nervous system and body functions. Not only do I find that NSA care can be an effective way to reduce certain symptoms, but every day in my practice I measure the way it enhances the body’s performance. I do this by performing a range of functional tests (please see my video called "What to expect on your first two visits."

Here's a list of symptoms and conditions I find NSA care may be able to assist people to reduce and in some cases resolve:

• neck pain

• shoulder pain

• arm pain

• wrist and hand pain

• leg pain

• lower back pain

• upper back pain

• some types of headache

• facial pain

• jaw pain

• scoliosis

• numbness and tingling.

Please note, results cannot be guaranteed and individual results vary.

Here's more on how NSA care can be used to effectively reduce symptoms and potentially help you live a happier, healthier, more productive life.

With new patients, my initial focus is to:

• develop greater ease and fullness of breath to the spine and body.

• reduce passive spinal stiffness and asymmetric restriction of movement

• encourage the spine to realign itself, rather than rely on me to correct spinal misalignments

• help you optimise your strength and range of motion.

With NSA care, the development of this response is known as ‘creating a strategy of self-correction’. The first time I heard that term, it was used by Professor Bob Blanks in the early 1990s when he sat beside me during an NSA entrainment session at a Transformational Gate event that involved at least 40 people, all receiving NSA entrainments at the same time.

Professor Blanks, a neuroscientist and the first author of a study that looked at data from 2818 people receiving NSA care, said at the time that it was the largest wellbeing study ever conducted¹.

I remember Professor Blanks commenting on the predictability of self-corrective responses generated by the NSA practitioners as they entrained people. For example, his passion was neuroscience so I saw him get quite excited a few times saying things like (and I paraphrase) "look, look, the practitioner is touching that point in the sacrum but vectoring up to the neck and it's going to respond in the upper cervical spine" and sure enough it would!

How I first became interested in neuroplasticity.

I completed my degree in anatomy at the University of New South Wales and received first-class honours in 1989. My thesis was titled “Neuroplasticity In The Trigeminal System.” During my research, I discovered a nerve that helped to answer questions that had puzzled scientists for years. I have attended over 40 seminars and workshops on NSA in the United States and Australia between 1990 and 2017. In the early 1990s I made the link between NSA care and it being a form of neoplastic treatment.

What is an entrainment?

Instead of the word ‘treatment’, NSA chiropractors use the word ‘entrainment’ to describe what we do to achieve specific results for our patients.

‘Entrainment is defined by a temporal locking process in which one system's motion or signal frequency entrains the frequency of another system. This process is a universal phenomenon that can be observed in physical (e.g., pendulum clocks) and biological systems (e.g., fire flies). However, entrainment can also be observed between human sensory and motor systems.’ ⁸

Similar research has now been published about NSA care³. However, rather than using sound, NSA research shows how touches to very specific locations in the spine can entrain self-corrective spinal movement patterns, resulting in numerous health benefits.

An NSA entrainment involves gentle touches to the spine and/or body.

That definition comes from a team of researchers who were studying music therapy. They showed that inherent periodicity of auditory rhythmic patterns could entrain movement patterns in patients with movement disorders.

Similar research has now been published about NSA care³. However, rather than using sound, NSA research shows how touches to very specific locations in the spine can entrain self-corrective spinal movement patterns, resulting in numerous health benefits.

How does the entrainment work?

In order for the second crystal glass to be entrained by the first glass and start vibrating, both must be identical. Even the two gasses in the picture above might not be identical, so if you try this at home, whether or not it works will depend upon the quality of the glass.

To answer that question I'd like to use a common example of entrainment. Have you ever put two identical crystal glasses near but not touching each other then tapped just one of them gently with something like a teaspoon? If you have tried this, you may have noticed that when you stop the vibration of the one you tapped by touching it with your fingers, you’ll be able to hear the other one making the same sound that the original glass made. This happens even though you did not touch the second glass. It is because the second glass picked up the vibration from the first glass. This can only occur if both glasses are exactly the same size and made of the same material. Only only then will they have precisely the same pitch and be able to respond to the vibration of the glass that was tapped by the spoon. When this happens, we say the first glass entrained the second glass.

I used to do this a lot as a child and most people I ask say they have done this as a child because they were fascinated by the process. It will also work with two identical tuning falks. If you have not tried it please give it a go and please let me know how it goes!

In NSA, we utilise this entrainment process to achieve something similar in the spine and body by matching the force at one point in the spine with the force (or tension) in the target location. When done correctly, it will create a self-corrective response at the target location. It can take a while to achieve this which is why you'll notice the practitioner's finger or thumb contact will be used in different locations and for different lengths of time. It takes longer for this to develop in some people compared to others, yet many people find it exciting when their body learns this process, even if they are one of the people that has so much stiffness and other issues that must first change before these powerful mechanisms of self-correction can begin to appear during the NSA entrainment session. In these cases it can require more visits per week over a longer period of time before the brain can learn to overcome those barriers to change.

Think of it like learning anything worthwhile like playing an instrument. We have a term for those that learn some specific task more quickly than others and we say "She's a natural". And we also know that just because someone does not "pick it up" right away, it does not mean they won't learn to play the instrument beautifully if they work harder at it.

Practice members versus patients.

Another curious aspect of NSA care terminology is that instead of using the word ‘patient’, which implies there is something wrong with the person receiving NSA care, NSA partitioners will often use the term ‘practice member’. This is because, while many people with severe pain and physical limitations benefit therapeutically from NSA care, other people without any symptoms at all, choose to receive NSA care because it helps them in other ways. This can be things like stress reduction, enhanced muscle strength, less sense of stiffness and greater flexibility. In fact, the Blanks study listed below concluded that NSA care led to a very large improvement in quality of life. I discuss the types of benefits that were seen by those researchers in my article called Gentle & Effective Chiropractic Care in Canberra.

Can neuroplastic treatment deliver results even when years of trying other methods have not?

In my experience, if you’re in this situation and have not yet given up hope, you may already be looking for a very different treatment approach. An effective neuroplastic treatment such as NSA care might provide a solution because it can be very different to conventional treatments.

A primary objective I bring to the way I utilise NSA care is to correct the cause of symptoms. Many other practitioners also look to correct the cause of symptoms, but if that has not worked for you, then it may be that the methods used did not sufficiantly change the way your nervous system is functioning. That is, it may not be a strongly neuroplastic treatment.

Why might a neuroplastic method work for you?

Your brain plays a vital role in controlling every function of your body. Together with the spinal cord and nerves, the brain not only controls things like balance and movement but regulates our level of sensitivity to painful stimuli. This is known as our 'pain threshold'. NSA care appears to be very effective at reducing tenderness levels. I test and document tenderness levels on all my patients, therefore I can say with confidence, that at least nine out of every ten people notice reduced tenderness in over a dozen points in their spine and body immediately after their first NSA entrainment session.

For some people, physical and/or emotional trauma, whether as a one-off event or repetitive trauma, has unconsciously taught their brain and body to be overly guarded. This could also be the case for you.

Being overly guarded can lead to a lower pain threshold which results in having more pain because a lower pain threshold means you only need a very small event such as a bump or even emotional stress to trigger pain.

My hypothesis

Please note, that having a hypothesis is just the start of the scientific method. To prove a hypotheses usually takes many years of research. There is an interesting discussion on this concept here that states "When a (certain IT) function was designed, the developers feared that some errors might occur. However, these errors never occur and workers have used it for years." They then go on to explain that the function had never been proven because it may still fail. These discussions go on in philosophical circles, yet for practical purposes, I think it is important to test these things for ourselves if there is evidence it may work when there is a need and the risk of injury is low.

My approach to clinical practice, which includes carefully measuring and documenting multiple functions before and after NSA entrainment, has led me to an important observation. This clinical approach revealed to me, that people with long-term severe pain in multiple areas of their body, often have abnormally low pain thresholds. This has meant they experience pain for either no apparent reason, or they experience pain in the area of old injuries that, according to medical assessment, have "healed well". Even when pain or dysfunction still exists, I have found that I have been able to retrain the brain-body communication in some of these people, so that their pain reduces or, in some cases even resolves. My hypothesis is that the NSA has either helped their nervous system increase the pain threshold and thereby ignore stimulation from minor bumps or other forms of stimulation with the help of NSA care, or the NSA care has reduced the tension in the spine and body resulting in lowered inflammation levels. It could be a combination of both.

To illustrate the connection between tension and inflammation, imagine for a moment that you are carrying a 5kg bag of potatoes in each hand. Instead of just letting it hang by your side, you bend your elbow to 90 degrees and hold it like that for 5 minutes. Can you now imagine the pain building in your bicep muscle? The tension creates inflammation and inflammation creates the pain. The pain reduces within seconds after you put the bags down. Try it out if you have not done something like that in a while and I'm sure you'll experience that for yourself. Three of the tests I perform during the initial consultation are to measure spinal stiffness, muscle tightness and tenderness levels. The stiffness and muscle tightness nearly always reduce to some extent after the first NSA entrainment, which helps to explain why many points of tenderness also very often reduce at the same time.

Evidence for this pain threshold hypotheses has been formulated from:

• combining my traditional chiropractic training, which utilised objective measurements such as tenderness, muscles strength and range of motion with new NSA measurements.

• quantifying and documenting specific points of tenderness on new patients and at re-evaluations,

• rechecking these scores immediately after their first NSA entrainment and observing that tenderness scores noticeably reduced in over 95% of patients during that first NSA entrainment.

• adding up all the tenderness scores for ten consecutive patients and finding an average improvement of over 50% in tenderness during the first treatment. I am currently working on publishing the data I have gathered from more than 100 patients.

I also paid close attention to Dr Donny Epstein, the developer of NSA care. Epstein had discovered a way to teach the brain and nervous system to enhance its ability to communicate with the body and also for the body to give improved feedback to the brain. Research found that NSA care can teach the nervous system to develop more complex strategies in order to heal more effectively.¹

NSA care as a Neuroplastic Treatment

A neuroplastic treatment is one capable of significantly altering neural pathways which can result in positive changes such as helping the body to gain greater function, repair damage and improve performance.

PAIN THRESHOLDS: Chronic pain can be a result of an abnormally low pain threshold. This is where even a small stimulus, such as a mild irritant, or a minor bump can cause significant prolonged pain. Any treatment that can help the brain to raise an abnormally low pain threshold can be considered a neuroplastic treatment. As noted above, I observe that NSA care appears to be able to achieve this in very effectively in some cases.

Similarly, treatment methods that can help the brain to learn how to strengthen and coordinate movements of the spine, as well as the arms and legs, would also be considered neuroplastic treatments. I have also observed that NSA can achieve those functional changes effectively in some cases.

Every day in my practice, I document the way NSA care, in some cases, can make changes in all of those functions. However, not all neuroplastic treatments are equal in terms of the range of problems and conditions they can address or the consistency of their effectiveness. For example, some types of neuroplastic treatment focus on very specific problems such as balance or vision.

What does the NSA practitioner actually do to generate self-corrective neurological responses in the body?

NSA chiropractors usually avoid putting direct attention (i.e., extra stimulus) into symptomatic areas of the body. This means instead of adjusting, rubbing, doing surgery or injecting the area that is painful, the NSA practitioner endeavours to find ways of encouraging the brain to develop a new self-corrective strategy in those problem areas.

We do this by using the NSA system of spinal analysis to identify and monitor a range of indicators for spinal dysfunction. Some examples of these spinal health indicators include passive spinal stiffness, ankle tension and pelvic distortion. For my evaluation, I also consider other spinal health indicators, including range of motion, tenderness, muscle strength and posture.

Spinal health indicators

I use the following four indicators to find out how to apply gentle thumb or finger pressure along the spine and body. Close attention must be paid to each of this indicators for the person's body to respond.

1. Location of NSA contact: A further system of analysis tells the practitioner exactly where in the patinet’s body, the practitioner’s finger pressure needs to be applied. If this is misplaced by even 1 cm, the response of the patient can be greatly reduced or not occur at all.

Photo by Javardh on Unsplash

"Profound healing is initiated in my patients by gentle touches that can be as light as a feather."

Dr Jason Barritt, (Chiro)

2. Amount of force applied: This force ranges from between being “as light as a feather” to being quite firm. However, this is usually not more than the finger pressure we can tolerate when pushing on our eyelid when our eye is closed.

3. Length of contact time: In order to develop the desired NSA self-corrective response, the length of time must be varied. Sometimes this needs to be less than a second, while at other times this may need to be held for many seconds.

4. The patient's defensive mechanisms: The patient's defensive mechanisms: We have all had various emotional and physical stresses in our past. I have observed how parents are often surprised to see how much their child’s body has responded to stress by tightening up the muscles in the back and neck. That can then cause pain and even reduce strength and coordination. Increased stiffness between the vertebrae (bones) in the back is another common result of stress. The older we get the more time we have to build up this tightness and tension in our body so it becomes a deeply rooted defensive pattern that can take considerable time and effort to change. This is where a neuroplastic treatment method can be an ideal choice.

Long term tension and tightness can create resistance to positive change. In some cases, this can be due to tension in the nerves. Some people can release this type of tension very quickly, while others need considerably more "brain training" in order to learn a new way for the brain and body to interact before the stiffness and tightness can be released.

If you were to receive NSA care form me, one of my primary goals would be to retrain parts of your brain and nervous system so your body could learn how to reduce or even eliminate abnormal function that may be the cause of your current symptoms. The Blanks study found NSA care resulted in not only symptom reduction, but also a large improvement in overall health and well-being for a high percentage of people.

This very gentle method is designed to:

• teach the body to develop well defined, self-corrective spinal movements;

• create proactive self-correction of the spine and body, which in a high percentage of people leads to profound improvements in health, even in cases where the person has not been able to make progress in the past;

• redefine how the body and brain communicate, underpinning the concept that positive change can occur in the nervous system, even with a non-intrusive and gentle approach such as NSA care. Researchers have found that NSA care can achieve this, for example, “...the sEMG (surface electromyography) signal of NSA reveals a new class of complex nonlinear dynamic behaviour..." ²

• develop increasingly stronger and more complex self-corrective spinal movements.

Improved human function, performance & health

The more complex these self-corrective movements become, the more your nervous system will learn new ways of refining how it functions. I have discovered how to help the brain and nervous system to target problem areas in the body. In some cases, this approach can then lead to enhanced capacity for extraordinary functional and symptomatic improvement.

Flexibility is one of the human spine's important attributes. Chiropratic care can help to maintain your range of motion and overall mobility.

This ability of NSA care to create positive neuroplastic change is well illustrated by the following excerpt from another scientific paper:

‘...the synaptic strengths are adjusted, the neural pathways are established, and consequently, the signal becomes less random.”³ In essence, these scientists are saying that potentially, there can be very positive neurological changes resulting from NSA care.’

Many practitioners say they are treating the cause, not just the symptom. Here’s a few things to look out for that may help you to better asses whether or not there is actually evidence for that assertion.

A major difference between NSA care as a particularly strong neuroplastic treatment approach compared to some other treatment methods, is that the practitioner seeks to help the patient's body identify areas of dysfunction and develop a proactive process of self-correction in order to minimise those dysfunctions. A process that, over time, most people will feel happening within their spine and body as well as be able to see it happening.

Imagine that you have injured a part of your back or neck, or perhaps your shoulder, wrist, hip, knee, ankle or even your jaw. My approach would be to help your spine learn to respond to NSA care, which involves creating spontaneous self perpetuating contractions in the spine. This usually starts by the person responding to my gentle touches with increased breath in a stiff area of their back or neck. When this is repeated one, two or three times per week for a few weeks, it can develop into movements between individual vertebrae (AKA backbones). These are points of oscillation. Once that occurs, my goal is to direct your nervous system's attention into the problem area and develop self-corrective movements in that location. In my experience, this process can create some very positive results.

This approach can be an ideal way to correct the cause of stubborn debilitating symptoms and/or mild to severe physical limitations. I think this is because NSA care utilises very different physical assessment tools. I also use several more traditional chiropractic assessment tools. These tools help me, as the practitioner, to identify both obvious and subtle dysfunction in the spine that may not only be causing symptoms like pain, numbness and tingling etc, but to also identify spinal dysfunctions that are causing performance limitations. The following physical limitations that may improve with this approach includes poor physical endurance, weakness, non-optimal coordination, as well as mental/emotional, life enjoyment that diminished overall quality of life. Those performance limitations are discussed in my article titled “NSA Care Research at Irvine College of Medicine”

You may be like many of my patients who notice improvement in at least some of these dysfunctions immediately after their very first consultation. For example, given symptoms are the body’s alarm bells alerting us to abnormal function, when NSA care enables the brain to improve the way the body functions, the body is in a better state to be able to reduce symptoms, even if they have been present for many years.

The NSA care approach can also be different to may other methods of health care in the following way. Rather than look for a tight muscle and rub, stretch, dry needle it or inject a drug into it, with the goal of forcing the muscle to relax or the inflammation to go away without necessarily having corrected the cause of those issues, the NSA practitioner utilises a system of analysis and treatment consisting of gentle touches done in a special way, so the brain and body can learn to make its own corrections.

Downside Or Benefit?

Please note: Some people find there is a down side to the neuroplastic approach. This is because in come cases it can require more frequent treatment sessions in order for the nervous system to "learn" how to function differently. NSA care can pose the same challenge. While sometimes it will deliver very rapid symptom relief when other methods did not deliver any relief, but for many people it is slower to achieve this. In some cases, I think this can happen because my main focus during the first few entrainment sessions, is to identify and minimise dysfunction, not just to suppress symptoms. That approach can be particularly problematic if it allows the cause of those symptoms to fester in the background only to come back with a vengeance later. Having studied and practiced chiropractic and worked with thousands of people for over 30 years, I have come across many people who, quite understandably, find themselves in a situation where they can’t afford the time or money to thoroughly identify and resolve their issues by focussing on the enhancement of function and performance. They simply need to get back to work by minimising symptoms and choose to worry about the deeper issues later.

If that might be a concern for you, it does not mean I am not going to be able to give you rapid relief and perhaps provide that more quickly than some other approaches to health care. Therefore, it could still be a good idea to take a look at my website’s Services Page for the article called consultation options. You may then decide between the Low-cost Initial Consultation or my Full Initial Chiropractic Consultation. Some people have found it useful when I am bale to show them areas of dysfunction in their body because this can then help them make decisions about their treatment going forward, even if that is with another practitioner.

How long will It take to feel better?

I'd like to make one last comment about this issue of how quickly you might respond to NSA care. I estimate that well over 50% of my patients notice some symptomatic improvement after their very first NSA entrainment. I can also confidently say, and indeed all clinical records of hundreds of my patients document, that at least 90% of people do gain some degree of noticeably improved function on their very first NSA entrainment, even if they didn’t notice positive symptomatic changes.

The fact that some people can gain significant functional improvement and not reduce symptoms on their very first NSA entrainment session, is why I always set up an extended consultation 3 to 4 weeks into the treatment program so we can discuss your progress. I find, that even for those few people who have not yet noticed symptomatic improvement by that time, they will do so during that discussion. How do they do that you may be asking? It's because when we look at my detailed notes quantifying their symptoms from the first consultation, I am usually able to help them see that they have in fact made significant symptomatic improvement. While this only happens in a small fraction of cases, it can be because they initially had multiple symptoms, and when a couple of those improve, the remaining symptoms dominate their awareness and they didn't notice the progress.

Some people continue with NSA care well after their symptoms are gone. The gentle forces applied by the NSA practitioner is given in a special sequence that can stimulate the brain to improve the way it is communicating with the parts of the body that are functioning abnormally. This means the abnormal pattern of communication between the brain and spinal cord with the muscles, tendons and potentially even the organs of the body, which initially led to symptoms, may then start to normalise. What many of my patients have discovered, is that while they no longer have symptoms, they can still make further progress toward a state of greater wellbeing with NSA care. This is like a musician who already plays the piano very well but wants to feel the joy of playing even better. Please note, your health insurance usually only pays for “treatment of symptoms” and not for “wellness care”.

Creating an active strategy of self-correction with 'The Network Wave’

A 2016 study investigated the spinal wave phenomenon termed The Network Wave. This involves a visible undulation and specific rocking movement of spinal segments, which is elicited through gentle contacts in a defined sequence to the spine at specific areas.”³ The Network Wave phenomenon has been developed within NSA protocols. The word ‘wave’ comes from the fact that the recipient can experience, and the observer can see, an obvious wave-like movement that runs from one end of the spine to the other during an NSA treatment session in people who have achieved a higher level of response from their NSA care.

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When walking, a horse has three hooves on the ground most of the time. Trotting, cantering and galloping each use totally different CPGs resulting in changes to the patterns of leg movement.

When galloping, like the horse in the picture above, there are times when there are no hooves touching the ground. This never happens when walking or trotting.

Measuring "The Network Wave" – a new scientific discovery

The Network Wave has been studied⁴ since 1998 ‘through the use of surface electromyography (sEMG) to measure the electrical changes in the muscle system. Since 1998, sEMG has been used as a window into the central nervous system.’ ³

Researchers have analysed the sEMG signal to determine whether The Network Wave had different attributes based upon the NSA levels of care.⁵ Another study published in 2009 concluded that ‘the objectively established fact that the signals become less random and more predictable can be interpreted to reveal a better “organization” of the neural circuitry at advanced levels of care.”⁶

New mathematical approaches were developed by Irvine College of Medicine scientists to further understand the phenomenon of The Network Wave⁷. Central Pattern Generators (CPGs) are found in all vertebrate animals, of which humans are a member. A CPG enables complex patterns of movement to feel automatic to the person or animal engaging the movement.

NSA researchers discovered a CPG in the human spine that was previously unknown. It was first reported in 2016 by Senzen et.al.³

You can think of a CPG as being like gears in a car. Let’s use a horse as a way to understand this more easily. A horse has 4 CPGs in its nervous system that predetermines its four unique patterns of movement. These are walking, trotting, cantering and galloping. The horse selects totally different CPGs, for each different speed range. That is similar to what we do when we change gears in a car. However, unlike gears, each CPG does not simply determine speed through ratios between cogs. Instead, this is achieved in horses and other animals, by being able to choose between different patterns of leg movement.

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Practice makes perfect

At the beginning of this article, I quoted researcher and psychiatrist Dr Norman Doidge. He was talking about the early discoveries in the science of neuroplasticity. He wrote "They showed that the brain changed its very structure with each different activity performed, perfecting its circuits, so it was better suited to the task at hand." I find that I am able to document at least some functional improvement in the very first NSA entrainment for at least 90% of my patients.

“There’s no way around hard work. Embrace it. You have to put in the hours because there is always something you can improve on”
Roger Federer

These people are also usually able to observe those functional improvements during their first NSA session. However, it's also important for me to let you know that, just as Dr Doidge points out how it's a process of perfecting the neural circuits; in other words, something that people need to learn over time and it's usually not an immediate magic bullet, so too is NSA care a learning process. The positive changes tend to become more significant and last longer with repeated 'lessons'. This means regular NSA entrainment sessions are usually needed over a period of several weeks in order to learn the self-corrective process.

If you are looking for someone to “fix” you in one or two sessions, then NSA care may not be for you. While I have had cases where a severe long term symptom has disappeared on the first session and never returned, that is unusual.

If you have stubborn long term health issues such as ‘chronic pain’, ‘severe generalised tenderness’, ‘pins and needles’ or scoliosis, just to name a few, and are looking for a very different approach that may offer a solution, then NSA care could be a good fit for you. A primary goal of mine is to help your body learn an enhanced strategy of self-correction. This is how I have been able to help many hundreds of people to heal from old trauma or dysfunction that developed from so called 'bad' habits. Bad habits can be things like poor posture, sitting on your wallet, spending many hours in a chair or matress that does not support you properly.

Another positive feature of NSA care is that once your body learns its strategy of self-correction, then this learned strategy tends to remain so the reduced symptoms as well as improved function enables you to perform better. This is why, at the Body Mind Empowerment Centre, we say that we want to help you to Move better, Feel better, and LIVE BETTER.

The choice will always be yours:

• Some people still find it beneficial and enjoyable to receive NSA care regularly, even after their major symptoms have abated. This is usually at a reduced frequency such as once a month.

• Others feel like it has helped them to meet their health goals and so stop care all together.

Dr Jason W. Barritt B.Sc (Hons) DC
Chiropractor

© Optimal Health Centre Pty Ltd February 2022 (All rights reserved)

Further reading

• View NSA entrainment demonstrations in our video library.
• Read my summary of the Blanks study ¹. In this summary article, I explain the evidence that supports NSA care and how it can reduce symptoms and enhance overall performance, such as strength, endurance, flexibility and range of motion, as well as support positive mental and emotional states. While individual results cannot be guaranteed, the Blanks study found 95% of 2018 NSA research subjects reported their expectations had been met.

Book your initial low-cost consultation

During my 20-minute low-cost initial consultation you will receive:

• several gentle, non-invasive tests that can help me know if you have spinal problems that may be the cause of your symptoms, and

• demonstrate how your overall physical performance may be connected to specific problems in your spine.

If I am able to find that connection, then I am confident in my ability to use NSA care as an appropriate and potentially very effective next step for you on your healing journey.

Request your initial consultation now...

References:

(1) Blanks, R.H.; Shuster, T.L.; Dobson, M.A. Retrospective Assessment of Network Care Using a Survey of Self-Related Health, Wellness and Quality of Life, Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research, 1997,Vol. 1, No. 4, p. 15-31.

(2) Jonckheere, E.A.; Losoonthorn, P.; Boone, R. (2003). “Dynamic modeling of spinal electromyographic activity during various conditions.” Proceedings of the 2003 American Control Conference. 1:465-470.

(3) Senzen S, Epstein D, Lemberger D. The Network Spinal Wave as a Central Pattern Generator. J Altern Complement Med. 2016 Jul 1; 22(7): 544–556

(4) Bohacek S, Jonckheere E. Chaotic modeling in network spinal analysis: preliminary report. Nonlinear canonical correlation with alternating conditional expectation (ACE). J Vert Subl Res 1998;2:188–195

(5) Jonckheere E, Bohacek S. Chaotic modeling in network spinal analysis: mathematical classification of levels 1, 2, 3 patients. Los Angeles: Department of Electrical Engineering and Department of Mathematics, University of Southern California; 2000

(6) Jonckheere E. Network spinal analysis. J Altern Complement Med. 2009;15:469–470

(7) Jonckheere E, Lohsoonthorn P. Dymamical modeling in network spinal analysis: bursting versus background mode discrimination. Los Angeles: Department of Electrical Engineering Systems, University of Southern California; 2002

(8) Michael H Thaut 1, Gerald C McIntosh 2, Volker Hoemberg 3

Neurobiological foundations of neurologic music therapy: rhythmic entrainment and the motor system, Front Psychol, 2015 Feb 18;5:1185

Is There A Best Chiro In Canberra?

Best Chiropractor Canberra – does he or she actually exist?

If you have spent more than a minute searching the internet for a chiropractor in Canberra, then you have probably already seen some discussion on the topic of "Best Chiropractor Canberra". 

Before I thought about writing this article, a new patient told me he came to see me because I was number one on the internet list of "Best Chiropractors in Canberra". I laughed and said, "I didn't know there was such a list, and I don't know how I got there!" Then two weeks later, I was 15th on the list. I wonder how they decide who gets to be on that list :)

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The Big Question: Who is the best chiropractor in Canberra?

For me, the answer to that is easy: it's going to be different for everyone! And, it depends upon what you perceive to be your significant needs and what areas of expertise you think you want. For example, some chiropractors do a lot of further study in the field of sports injury, some in radiology, while others focus on paediatrics to name just a few areas of extra study.

What I hope you will gain by reading this article: I know how challenging it can be to figure out what profession you need in order to solve any specific health problem, and then to choose which individual in that profession may have the best solution for you. It's an important decision. In fact, I think it is more important than choosing a car or at times even more critical than which house to buy. As Ralf Waldo Emerson said, "The Greatest Wealth Is Health".

This article is designed to assist you in finding the best chiropractor in Canberra. I want to be clear with you that is NOT going to be me in every case. I think the 'best chiropractor' is the one which is the best fit for you. With this in mind, I hope you will find it helpful for me to outline the kinds of conditions that I am the most experienced and confident in helping people improve, and at times, even resolve. I will also point out some areas where other chiropractors in Canberra have more experience than I do in certain area of chiropractors care.

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I asked two GPs, two company directors and a chiropractor to read this article before I published it. I wanted to see if they thought it could be helpful for the public. I also did not want to look like I am trying to say I am the "best chiropractor in Canberra".

None of those reviewers thought I was saying that. In fact, I was very pleased to hear one of the GPs say, and I paraphrase "This looks very useful. I wish I could find psychologists online that explain more about their areas of expertise. I'm currently looking for psychologists that will be the best fit for some of my patients".

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Clinical experience matters: For many years now, an area of health care which I have felt a great deal of satisfaction for both myself and my patients, is assisting them with chronic pain and other long term symptoms in multiple areas of their body. The word chronic means it has been persisting for a long time or it constantly recurs. I have helped hundreds of people with chronic severe pain, including children and seniors. For example, Jesse came to me when he was at the age of 93 and had fallen from his roof while cleaning his gutters. I took care of him with chiropractic care until he was 101 years of age. I have treated numerous people with serious injuries similar to Jesse's. In fact, I found that I could make such a positive difference for people with injuries and gained so much experience in the area, that I travelled aournd the USA presenting seminars on the topic of "Injury Documentation" to other chiropractors. I also founded a company called Injury Documentation Consultants with an orthopaedic surgeon in Colorado.

Personal preferences: I arrived back in Canberra in 2008 after studying and then practising chiropractic for 18 years in the USA. After about two years, I was happy to hear a new patient say that his wife had asked some of her colleagues at work "Who would be the best chiropractor for my husband to see?" He told me that a couple of people suggested she send him to see me. That situation was a reminder to me about how very personal and challenging it is to find a new clinician of any kind when we don't already know one. We tend to ask other people, and they give us their opinions based upon their needs, their experience, and what they have heard. After that experience, I knew I wanted to create a way to help people have access to a no-obligation approach to find out if chiropractic might help them. I'll tell you more about that below.

My approach to the initial evaluation: I have been studying and practising chiropractic for over 30 years and developed my own approach to the initial evaluation of new patients. While some chiropractors can gather the information they feel is sufficient to safely and effectively help someone in just 10 to 20 minutes, my particular approach takes longer. One reason for this is because I have a lot of people come to me with long term stubborn and complex conditions. Therefore, I find it useful to take extra time to acquire a very detailed physical evaluation and initial symptom history. This does not mean I do every possible biomechanical, neurological and orthopaedic test. Still, it does mean I get a reasonably thorough understanding of how the body is, and is not working. Please see https://bodymindec.com.au/video-library for a video on "What To Expect On Your First Two Visits".

Please note, that video is not designed to be upbeat and super entertaining. I kept the tone gentle and quiet on purpose. This was so the video could be received more easily by people who have had pain dragging on for months or even years.

I've noticed that people in this predicament can be in very low spirits & need a quiet message. Three decades of working with people in severe chronic pain. I've been impressed by the way so many are able to continue to search for solutions rather than completely give up hope.

I also wanted that video to reflect the particularly gentle method of chiropractic that I use. NSA care is a low force method and for that reason, some people travel hours to Canberra in order to see me because they know they can request that I not use the traditional chiropractic adjustments with them. I have had people travel from Adelaide, Melbourne, Wagga, Young, Goulburn, the North Coast, South Coast and Sydney, specifically to receive NSA care from me. You may find it helpful to look here at some of the videos on my website that demonstrate NSA care.

Thousands of Australians find answers with chiropractic care: A lot of people find traditional chiropractic adjustments enjoyable and very beneficial. I do too. It is for these reasons that I use the traditional chiropractic adjustment method every day in my practice. However, I am well aware there are some people who know they need chiropractic care for their spine and overall health, yet prefer not to receive chiropractic adjustments. As a result, I have studied several low-force chiropractic methods which I offer as effective alternatives to traditional chiropractic adjustments. Usually, my first choice is NSA care which I discuss below.

My initial evaluation takes an hour, therefore I charge more than some other chiropractors in Canberra for the initial consultation. Most people appreciate that and see it as being thorough while others don't. Many people have told me how grateful and relieved they were to have received a detailed initial evaluation where they learned new things about their condition. However, some other patients are not as happy to spend an hour when all they wanted was a brief evaluation and adjustment. For them, that more brief approach had worked very well in the past with other chiropractors. 

My perspective: There are other ways in which chiropractors can be different from each other. For example, some primarily seek to help people with their overall well-being and are less focused on symptom relief. This was my focus for the first few years of chiropractic practice well over 20 years ago.  It is a valuable service to people who are seeking that approach. Other chiropractors have a broad range of conditions they feel confident in assisting people with, yet there are still others who choose to focus on certain specific issues such as food sensitivities. This is not one of my strong points! However, if you email me, I'll be happy to refer you to a chiropractor who has a good track record with that. There are chiropractors who have extra qualifications in areas such as chiropractic paediatrics, orthopaedics, radiology, functional neurology and/or ergonomics, to name a few. There have been times when I have referred my patients to chiropractors with expertise in those areas. 

The above examples illustrate how different we all can be as chiropractors, and why I wanted to explain my approach to you here. I have found that each patient has their own needs and preferences. Therefore, to make informed decisions about finding a new chiropractor, I believe it’s best to do our homework. 

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A popular approach to health care: "Over 300,000 Australians visit a chiropractor every week. Chiropractors play an important role in the spinal healthcare of everyday Australians by using a variety of non-surgical techniques, such as specific spinal adjustments, manual therapy and low-force intervention.

Chiropractors offer a drug-free, hands-on approach to spinal healthcare." https://www.chiro.org.au accessed Feb 2020

Judge for your self: I have noticed it's easy for those who don't visit a chiropractor themselves to judge their friend or neighbour who goes regularly. Some of my patients, who have seen me once a month for years, tell me that people say things to them like "Bill you're going to the chiro again? Aren't you fixed yet?"  I will share some research below on this topic, which I hope, will explain why people like Bill may have decided to continue with chiropractic care even after he had met his original goals for symptom reduction and/or health improvement.

What people like Bill have usually not told his neighbour, is the extent of his old injuries or spinal birth-defects or even his scoliosis? Bill may also experience ongoing physical and emotional stress which is being helped by chiropractic. Bill has probably not spelt out to his neighbour, exactly how his chiropractor is helping him to feel and function better with what we call maintenance care.

Maintenance care is when some people choose to continue with chiropractic, at a lesser frequency, after they have met their goals and want to maintain their new, improved level of health and well-being. This does not mean it will be the same for you. For example, while some of my patients see me regularly, many others have stopped care happily because they reached their goals and those results stayed with them. The choice will always be yours.

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Research on chiropractic maintenance care: The following study of 311 chiropractic patients, aged 65 years and over, had received ‘maintenance chiropractic care’ for five years or longer. When compared with U.S. citizens of the same age, these chiropractic patients spent only 31% of the national average for health care services [69% savings]. They also had a 50% reduction in medical provider visits. The health habits of patients receiving maintenance care were better overall compared to the general population. For example, they had decreased use of cigarettes and decreased use of nonprescription drugs. Furthermore, 95.8% believed the chiropractic care to have been either “considerably” or “extremely” valuable.

R.L. Rupert et al. “Maintenance Care: Health Promotion Services Administered to US Chiropractic Patients,” Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 10-19, 2000.

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Safety of chiropractic is something people ask questions about.  Therefore, I’d like to address this issue here. For example, “Chiropractic care has a very low risk profile, especially when compared with more invasive methods of spinal healthcare.” (https://www.chiro.org.au/chiropractic-faqs/ accessed Reb 2020). A common area of concern for people is the possibility of stroke after chiropractic adjustments to the cervical spine.

Do you still have questions?

Chiropractic has a lot to offer,
so please keep looking
until you find the chiropractor
who is right for you.

The most recent data I can find on this is a 2015 study sponsored by the US Government’s National Institute of Health (NIH) and discussed on the NIH web site, with the title “Low Risk of Stroke After Chiropractic Spinal Manipulation in Older Patients With Neck Pain”.  (https://bit.ly/37LSQq4 accessed Feb 2020)

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Documentation and monitoring progress: In my initial comprehensive evaluation, I check 70 to 80 different functions before I offer the treatment. I measure the cervical and thoracolumbar range of motion, muscle tightness in many areas, posture, stiffness, as well as shoulder, arm, leg strength and more. All of these tests are indicators for "good" or "poor" ageing and tend to improve with the chiropractic care I provide. I then re-check all those functions again immediately after the first treatment. I can say with confidence, that I cannot remember the last time at least half of those functional tests did not improve when rechecked immediately after the very first treatment.

That result does not mean symptoms always improve on the first visit. Even though one of my primary goals is for symptoms to reduce as a result of improved function, most people need further chiropractic care before this can occur. Put another way, symptoms tend to diminish only after function improves and it can take a while for this to happen, especially if the problems have been present more then a few months or if there are other conditions present such as injury or arthritis. I believe, at first, its important to focus mainly upon how the body is functioning rather then just upon symptom reduction.

As part of the follow-up consultation, I give my patients a 16-page written report of findings that contain before and after range of motion pictures, along with documentation of other improvements that we can discuss.

Other options: I must admit, it did feel good to be labelled the 'best chiropractor in Canberra” (even if it was just for two weeks). However, there are many amazing chiropractors giving great care to people here in Canberra every day. Therefore, I'm sure they have some of their patients say the same thing about them. And, since there are so many good chiropractors in Canberra, and since there are numerous reasons for seeking treatment, there really can't be any one specific "Best Chiropractor in Canberra". 

I have put that mindset into practice. For example, when one of my staff fell at the gym resulting in a serious injury, I referred her to another chiropractor who has a lot more experience helping people with acute injury. I referred her because I am most confident in the treatment of chronic symptoms and complex conditions, rather than the treatment of acute (i.e. very recent) injuries. I believe that I am most effective and experienced in helping people who have chronic sports injury rather than acute sports injuries. I am also most confident in being able to achieve higher label of satisfaction in people who have already had treatment for chronic pain and or other stubborn symptoms and have not yet returned to what they think could be their optimal level of health. By health, I mean the World Health Organisation's Definition which has not been amended since 1948, and states "Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."

Another example of my appreciation of the skills of other health care professionals here in Canberra, has been when my children have been injured playing sports. I would usually provide chiropractic care myself but there were times when we paid for them to see a chiropractor with extra qualifications in sports injuries. There were also times that we took them to a physiotherapist. We wanted what was best for them according to their needs at that time. All four of my children have received chiropractic care since the day they were born, and we have encouraged all of them to see other "Best Chiropractors in Canberra".

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Experience in treating a wide range of injuries:
I have successfully helped many people with chronic sports injury and work injury treatment, as well as many dozens with car accident injury.

I have also helped people with serious fractures in the neck, back, hip, pelvis and ankles. I treated one person who had 13 broken bones from a high-speed head on collision. (BTW that was after these people were released from hospital.)

If you have chronic pain, it may be due to a car accident, work injury, repetitive injury, military service or an old sports injury. You may also have arthritic pain as a result of minor injuries from many years ago. Arthritic pain can also respond very well to chiropractic care. Chiropractors are trained to evaluate a wide range of injuries in order to determine if we are likely to be able to safely assist you or if we need to refer you to another health care provider. 

Did you know that Workers Compensation, car accident insurance, Medicare, the Dept. of Veteran's Affairs (DVA) and even NDIS covers chiropractic care in some instances? Not all chiropractors are willing to work with all those third-party payors. Therefore, if that is important to you, then you may want to ask about this when you call to schedule your initial appointment.

Strongly neuroplastic treatments can, in some cases, provide very different results: I have now discussed injury cases. However, I have also seen hundreds of people who don't know the event that caused their pain and limitations because their symptoms did not start immediately after an obvious traumatic injury. This is called "insidious onset of symptoms". The powerful neuroplastic aspect of my treatment approach is quite often able to help people with insidious onset of symptoms, just as it can for those who have long term symptoms after a specific traumatic injury.

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I believe the main reason why I have been able to help hundreds of people with long term stubborn pain, as well as other chronic conditions, is due to the chiropractic method I use called NSA care, which is a strongly neuroplastic treatment that has an extra focus on retraining the brain and nervous system in order to learn to make its own spinal corrections. Psychiatrist and researcher Norman Doidge MD, discusses neuroplasticity in his book called The Brain That Changes Itself.

Doidge has been on the ABC’s Q&A and several other Australian media programs. In chapter 5 of his book, he discusses cases where people have had a serious injury, gone through hospital rehab in the USA, yet still had many limitations and other symptoms that, many years later, were profoundly improved by what he identifies as various neuroplastic treatments. I highly recommend reading his book. (By the way, it's also available as an audio version.) Here is an interesting and balanced review of his book by The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/feb/08/norman-doidge-brain-healing-neuroplasticity-interview

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Neuroplastic Treatments Are a Game Changer For Pain Reduction and Improved Functional Capacity

The following exert from Doidge's book serves as a fascinating introduction to the concept of neuroplasticity and our brain's capacity to improve the way our body is performing. “An astonishing new scientific discovery called neuroplasticity is overthrowing the centuries-old notion that the adult human brain is fixed and unchanging. It is, instead, able to change its own structure and function, even into old age.”

Doidge “… travelled around the United States to meet the brilliant scientist championing neuroplasticity, and the people whose lives they’ve transformed – people whose mental limitations or brain damage were previously seen as unalterable, and whose conditions had long being dismissed as hopeless.”

There are many neuroplastic methods, and while results can never be guaranteed, if you have not yet tried a neuroplastic treatment approach that has worked well for you, then you may find a low-cost consultation with me very helpful. Please see more on that below.

Finding the right chiropractor for you: I believe finding the right chiropractor is all about needs, personal preferences, and even personalities. It's also about whether or not the chiropractor or other practitioner has the expertise and experience in the area you're seeking assistance. If you do your homework first and ask your questions, then you may be able to avoid feeling like a few people I've talked to, who said things to me like… I'm frustrated by my response to treatments from the last person who treated me, even though it really seemed to help Betty who referred me.

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Profound negative changes to our nervous system after injury: Please remember from my discussion above, that injury can be due to a specific dramatic event or many small injury's over time, such as what can occur from poor posture or many micro strains occurring over time (AKA repetitive injury) .

I have noticed that one group of people who can make the greatest improvement from my care are those who have had multiple locations of severe pain (and/or other conditions) that have not yet improved to their satisfaction with treatment from a range of other treating providers. While I certainly don't manage to help everyone, when I see people with long term conditions such as chronic pain, scoliosis or cerebral palsy, it makes me more confident that their central nervous system and body have been profoundly modified by that injury or by an abnormal habit. Therefore, as Dr Doidge puts it, those changes are now likely to be deeply “hardwired” into their nervous system. This then helps me to feel more confident that, even though other methods may not have helped as much as the person had hoped for, they may still be able to respond well to a strongly neuroplastic treatment approach like the one I use. This is because one of my primary goals is to change my patient's “neurological hard-wiring" in ways that can help their body to heel more effectively.

Thirty years experience: I have been studying and/or practising neuroplastic treatment since 1990. One of my primary goals is to create a powerful neuroplastic healing response in the spine and body, in order to stimulate the development of new connections from the brain to the troubled parts of the body. I do this so the brain can better coordinate the healing process in these dysfunctional areas. Please see more on this here… https://bodymindec.com.au/chiro/neuroplastic-treatment Please also feel free to take a look at some other videos and articles I have created in the 'resources' section of our web site.

For further discussion on the topic of serious injury resulting in chronic (long term) pain or other symptoms, please see my article on car accident treatment here https://bodymindec.com.au/chiro/car-accident-injury 

So, What Now? If you have chronic pain or other long-term conditions, I may be a good choice for you. To find out, I invite you to visit https://bodymindec.com.au/consultation-options so you can see how you can receive a low-cost initial consultation. This brief consultation does not include treatment. Instead, it is an opportunity to get your questions answered without any sense of obligation and at minimal cost so you can decide if my approach may be a good fit for your needs.

My wish for you: I think that the 'best chiropractor' is the one which is the best fit for you. As chiropractors, we bring our own life experience and knowledge, as well as our skills and interests to bear in what we offer.

Therefore, if you are not totally satisfied with the first chiropractor you see, my suggestion is to ask more questions and let him or her know exactly what you are looking for; you may be pleasantly surprised with the response.

However, if you are still not fully content, I recommend you keep looking. When you find the chiropractor that feels right for you, I hope he or she is able to help you to feel even more confident and motivated about improving your health.

I wish you well on your search for your "Best Chiropractor in Canberra".

Jason W. Barritt B.Sc (Hons) DC
Chiropractor

Request your initial consultation now...

Gentle & Effective Chiropractic Care In Canberra

In this article, I will present a summary of one out of many research papers that have studied NSA care. This research was ground-breaking at the time and conducted at Irvine College of Medicine. At that time, it was the largest study ever to investigate the field of well-being and quality of life change effects from a single treatment modality. 

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This study has special value to me, because I chose to become a chiropractor, only after I was shown how it could help me be able to improve people’s overall health, not just reduce their pain. I hope that tidbit of personal history helps you to understand why my focus at the Body Mind Empowerment Centre, is to utilise NSA care because I have found it able to provide a remarkable ability to enhance overall health.

Chronic pain: NSA care can also provide people who experience severe long term pain with sustained pain relief. If this is able to be provided, it is achieved by analysing for dysfunction & correcting it. NSA care is a particularly gentle, 'low force' method which most people find to be very comfortable and in fact, look forward to their NSA entertainment sessions.

“In a large percentage of individuals, Network Care (NSA) evokes a spontaneous self-perpetuating contraction of the paraspinal muscles. The movements may be very sutble, barely perceptible, or very obvious and may involve the arms and legs.”

— 1997 Irvine College of Medicine study by Blanks et al

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NSA care is a form of neuroplastic treatment. Neuroplasticity referes to the brain & nervous system's ability to change. NSA care uses gentle touches to the spine in order to stimulate the nervous system's capacity to learn what professor Blanks called "A strategy of self correction". Professor Blanks is the first author of the study I am about to share with you. This method trains the brain and nervous system so that the body can learn to reduce or even eliminate abnormal function that may be the cause of symptoms such as pain, but also many others such as weakness, numbness and tingling.

From Symptom Relief to Overall Well being

While I can't guarantee any specific results, I've also seen many cases, where NSA care has profoundly improved chronic high levels of tenderness such as that which occurs in fibromyalgia and repetative strain injury (RSI). I was particularly interested to see the the positive impact upon quality of life associated with NSA care which the Irvine study reported. These researchers found NSA care could also be an ideal way to create noticeable improvement in overall well-being. For example, this retrospective study of 2818 people reported 59% of patients improved on the overall quality of life index, and over two-thirds of patients showed significant clinical improvements in all of the following: physical state, mental/emotional state, stress evaluation and life enjoyment indices. 

For me, the implications of these findings, is that people seeking relief from various significant health problems, may not only achieve it but may also have those problems replaced by a more optimally functioning body. This then could enable them to experience a greater sense of well being and increased productivity.

Another very encouraging conclusion of the Irvine study was that 95% of respondents reported their expectations had been met with NSA care. Below is a summary of the published study conducted within the Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, College of Medicine, and Department of Sociology, University of California, Irvine, California.

This study included people receiving NSA care in the U.S., Australia and other countries. It revealed than an increasing percentage of patients reported progressively greater improvements in the areas assessed overtime. That means, the longer they stayed in care, the more they improved in those measures. The subjects were studied for over three years, and the researchers did not find any 'ceiling' to the results over time. By that they mean, at the end of the study people were still improving. The benefits reported were evident as early as 1 to 3 months under care, and continued to progress. Further, investigators concluded that "... within the boundaries of this design, these findings provide substantial evidence that Network care should be included among those practices with established health benefits."

This now may still represent the largest wellness study ever to assess such a wide range of patient reported health and wellness benefits.

This study found the following health and wellness benefits for NSA care in a statistically significant number of participants:

1. IMPROVED PHYSICAL STATE RELATIVE TO:

• Less physical pain

• Less tension or stiffness of spine

• Improved allergies, eczema, skin rashes

• Fewer incidences of colds and flu

• Fewer headaches

• Less menstrual discomfort

2. IMPROVED MENTAL/EMOTIONAL STATE

• Improved positive feelings about self

• Less moodiness, angry outbursts and depression

• More interest in life

• Improved ability to think and concentrate

• Less anxiety and concern about vague fears

• Improved ability to stay on task - focus/concentration

• Less distress about pain

3. IMPROVED RESPONSE TO STRESS & LESS STRESS RELATIVE TO:

• Family

• Significant relationship

• Health

• Finances

• Daily problems

• Work

• General well-being

4. IMPROVED LIFE ENJOYMENT RELATIVE TO: 

• Positive feelings about self

• Interest in maintaining a healthy lifestyle

• Incidence of feelings of joy or happiness

• Confidence when dealing with adversity

• Experience of relaxation and well-being

• Compassion for and acceptance of others

• Feeling open when relating to others

• Openness to guidance by "inner voice"

5. IMPROVED OVERALL QUALITY OF LIFE RELATIVE TO:

• Personal life

• Oneself

• Extent one adapts to change

• Handling of problems in life

• Actual life accomplishments

• Life as a whole

• Overall contentment with life

• Significant other

• Job

• Life being what one wants it to be

• Romantic life

• Actual work done

• Co-workers

• Physical appearance

In addition to these categories, the study also found that NSA care resulted in a significant increase in health promoting practices and a decrease in health detracting practices.

Engaging the power of neuroplasticity

NSA 'teaches' the body how to make its own corrections. The chiropractor uses a range of gentle finger pressures in specific locations along the spine and body in order to stimulate a response. Just like with anything we want to learn, the more we practice the better we get. Therefore, these responses typically become more complex and effective over time. In summery, NSA care utilises our nervous system's neuroplastic capability to learn more sophisticated ways of coordinating a wide range of functions of the body in order for us to be able to heal & perform more effectively. The highlights from the Irvine study listed above, provide evidence for the role NSA practitioners can play as partners in the overall health care arena.

Who usually receives this type of care?

The Irvine college of medicine study reported that the following health & wellness benefits from Network Care appeals to highly motivated individuals who are interested in alternative care as a means to achieve holistic health enhancement. 

• 95% of respondents reported their expectations had been met; and

• 99% wished to continue Network Care.

Other research on NSA

Other research has now been completed that helps us to understand the physiological mechanisms enabling NSA care to achieve the above reported results. Three research papers supporting this are presented here.

Ways to evaluate and understand health 

The Irvine study divided healthcare into two quite different approaches:

• Biomedical model

• Holistic or Wellness model

The Biomedical model considers the symptoms of a person and his/her laboratory test results to assess the condition or disease. 

The Holistic or Wellness model considers the symptoms of a person and his/her extent of function, perceptions, and overall quality of life. This is very much in keeping with the definition of health as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity," which was put forth by the World Health Organisation in 1948.

Jason W. Barritt B.Sc (Hons) DC
Chiropractor

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References:

1. Blanks, R.H. Schuster, T.L., Dobson, M.A., Retrospective Assessment of Network Care Using a Survey of Self-Related Health, Wellness and Quality of Life, Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research, 1997, Vol. 1, No. 4, p. 15-31.

2. The WHO definition of health is a part of the preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization as adopted by the International Health Conference, New York, 19-22 June, 1946, entered into force on 7 April 1948. 

Motor Vehicle Injuries: Gentle, Safe and Effective Car Accident Treatment

Canberra has safe roads, but...

Canberra has one of the safest road systems in Australia; you just have to listen to the National traffic report on ABC radio about accidents and traffic jams around the country, yet quite often you will hear them say, “Nothing to report in Canberra”. However, people still receive whiplash injury and other car accident injuries and, sadly, do die from car accidents in Canberra.

According to ACT Policing Online News¹ there were only 6 deaths in 2019 and by early May 2020 this image on that site revealed only 2 deaths.

Accessed on 13.5.20 https://policenews.act.gov.au

However, fatalities are not the only thing we have to be concerned about. Injuries affect many more people here in the ACT than we realise. For example, in the first 6 months of 2019 there were 4220 road crashes in the ACT, which is an average of more than 600 crashes per month or 23 per day. Speed is a significant factor in many of these crashes. In fact, it is estimated that in a 60 km/h speed limit area, the risk of involvement in a casualty crash doubles with each 5 km/h increase in travelling speed above 60km/h.

Those are some sobering statistics especially when we learn that the number of hospitalised injuries is on the rise and "Injuries sustained in road accidents are 27 times higher than those of fatality rates". Accessed on 13.5.20 https://www.budgetdirect.com.au

According to the Budget Direct website "While Australia’s number of road fatalities is roughly half of those in the US, our fatality rate is nearly twice as bad as the UK’s."

The Canberra Times stated that “In the 12 months to June 1269 people died on Australian roads – 99 more deaths than in the same period in 2014-15.³

Gentle, safe and effective car accident treatment

Over the past 25 years of clinical practice as a chiropractor, I have successfully treated many dozens of people suffering whiplash. This has included a wide range of symptoms, many of which were severe in both their intensity and negative impact upon daily life. These symptoms were caused by car accidents, sports injuries as well as numerous people with work injury. The accidents resulted in mild to serious soft tissue injuries such as ligament and disc damage. I have also taken care of people with spinal fractures, arm, wrist, ankle, shoulder, pelvic, leg, knee and ankle fractures. ITHere were others with significant dislocations. In most of these cases, I worked on their injuries in the chronic stage after they had been released from hospital. In fact, in some cases, I was able to assist people get closer to a more complete recovery, even though the event that injured them had occurred many years earlier.

Safety of Chiropractic

“Chiropractic care has a very low risk profile, especially when compared with more invasive methods of spinal healthcare.” ⁴

Elsewhere on this website you can read about and watch videos describing the very gentle chiropractic method I use at the Body Mind Empowerment Centre called Network Spinal Analysis (NSA care). Another name for this method is Network Care. People suffering the consequences of injury appreciate NSA care due to its gentleness, safety and effectiveness.

“Neuroplasticity refers to the brain’s ability to change, adapt and learn new tasks. One such task is to heal after significant injury.”

At Body Mind Empowerment Centre, we believe that NSA Care achieves its effectiveness due to its ability to access the body’s neuroplastic potential by teaching the brain and body to learn what Professor Bob Blanks ⁵ called “A strategy of self-correction”.

For more details on NSA Care as a neuroplastic treatment, click here

LEARN MORE

Perhaps you or someone you know has been involved in a motor vehicle accident? 

It is important to know that even at low-speed crashes, injury can occur. No matter what the speed of the crash is, it is always a good idea to have this checked out by your GP as well as a chiropractor. Many chiropractors have the knowledge, experience and skills to detect subtle yet potentially serious injuries. Even if you or a loved one may not be experiencing significant symptoms immediately after a car accident, that does not mean you escaped injury.

Not all symptoms start immediately after injury

One medical study concluded that delayed onset of neck pain, paraesthesia (pins and needles in arms and legs), pain between the shoulder blades, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), headache, dizziness, and visual disturbance can occur after 1 week. Then, between 3 months and 1 year 4% more people began to experience these symptoms and between 1 and 2 years after the accident another 22% started to feel these symptoms.⁶

This knowledge has important practical implications for you if you or someone you know had an injury in the past and did not notice pain or other symptoms right away. This is especially rather then if a year or so later then began to feel symptoms.

I have been able to use that research, along with other car accident studies, to successfully present a case for my patients that the symptoms they began to feel many months after a car accident was a result of injury from that event.

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Even a low-speed crash of just 5 km/h can tear spinal ligaments and cause arthritis.

Did you know even a low-speed car accident can lead to increased risk of arthritis? It certainly can, and here's the evidence... The Journal of Musculoskeletal Medicine reported that strain injuries to the spine, like injuries, typically received in vehicular accidents, increase (the risk of) arthritic development by more than 6 times ⁷. If you have experienced delayed symptoms after a car accident then I hope research like that helps you to understand how it may have been related to that event. It can take years to turn into mechanical deformations in the bones of the spine but the abnormal forces caused by stretched ligaments (soft tissue injury) in the neck or back, can lead to inflammation which drives the pain. In summary, Inflammation is a key factor in the development of arthritis that can cause new problems a few years after the event minor spinal surgery.

I was sitting on the verandah of a restaurant, enjoying my holiday in Tasmania last year when I heard a huge crash just across the road. The driver, carrying four others, had taken his eyes off the road for a moment and ploughed into the back of the parked car without even having a chance to apply the brakes. This is an example of a high-speed collision.

If you have experienced symptoms after a car accident, the sooner you get evaluated by a health care professional who is experienced in both injury evaluation and car accident treatment, the better your chances of a more complete recovery. However, if you were injured many years ago and are still suffering, then improvement may still be possible, so my advice is to keep searching for a healthcare professional with experience & expertise in the area of car accident treatment.

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What Is “Soft Tissue Injury”?

I have noticed that many people who have come to me seeking solutions to their symptoms and limitations after injury were diagnosed with “soft tissue injury”. If there are no broken bones then the only other conclusion for persistent pain or other symptoms is probably “soft tissue injury”. However, it is often given as a very general diagnosis without specific diagnostic evidence. As a result, I find that most of the time there is neither a specific tissue identified nor the exact location of injury. For example, for tissue identification is a disc a specific ligament or a muscle or tandentent. For location is the injury between C1 , C2 and C3 or something else such as between 5th and 6th i.e., C5 and C6.

“What are these soft tissues?” The tissues that can be injured in the spine are the vertebral discs, tendons, muscles, blood vessels, and nerves, but I suspect the most commonly injured soft tissue are the ligaments. If ligaments are injured, and if that can be clearly identified, then it can be of great value to the injured person and to any healthcare provider taking care of that person. For example, it can help us to know where to treat and where not to treat, as well as what types of advice to give such as exercises to do and not to do.

In my experience, identification of the specific tissues involved as well as the specific spinal levels of injury, will assists me in making a more definitive prognosis.
(*Prognosis: a forecast of the likely outcome for a clinical condition.)

The precise location and cause of “soft tissue injury” need not be elusive. A more definitive diagnosis is important.

I have been able to assist many patients with a detailed determination of the specific location and severity of spinal injuries using a particular form of x-ray analysis called Computer-aided Radiographic Mensuration Analysis (CRMA). I used this with many of my patients who had been involved in a car accident while working in the USA.

I also directed a company that used CRMA to analyse hundreds of x-rays sent by other chiropractors in order to create detailed reports on soft tissue injuries in the spine. I was the senior partner in that company called Injury Documentation Consultants with an orthopaedic surgeon as my consultant. We met regularly to go over my reports and he taught me a great deal about documenting spinal injury as well as its management. After I would do the careful computer analysis of the flexion/extension radiographs, I would discuss the case with Dr Sutton. He had many interesting stories and lessons about people he had taken care of over his 30 years as a surgeon. He explained how, in his opinion, a surgeon has the unique advantage over the radiologist, in that he would read the x-rays and MRI's and then get to see what it looked like during surgery. I no longer have the CRMA equipment but I can still put all that experience to good use when evaluating and treating injured patients.

I have presented seminars in several US States to dozens of other chiropractor’s on the topic of “The Diagnosis, Documentation and Effective Treatment of Car Accident Injuries”. The seminar also included a section on writing detailed reports for third parties such as solicitors and insurance companies. I taught the participants how to use numerous scientific articles to help explain the nature and implications of injury, including the prognosis. The Oxford dictionary defines prognosis as “An opinion, based on medical experience, of the likely course of a medical condition”. In those seminars, I would explain to treating providers how to use the scientific literature to respond to insurance company doctors who would deny treatment in cases where those denials appeared to be unwarranted.

Long term pain in multiple areas of the body

The majority of people who still have persistent pain after a car accident feel that pain in just a few location. I have helped many people in that situation. However, a condition that results from injury which I am both experienced and confident in assisting people with, is one where over a period of many months or even years, the symptoms migrate from the location of the original injury to other areas of the body. One location of injury can turn into pain and other symptoms in many locations. It is not uncommon for me to identify over 10 different symptoms like this. In fact, I have treated dozens of people who have had over 20 significant symptoms. One case had over fifty. In the reports I write for my patients, I use the scientific literature to explain this condition to third parties (i.e. GP, solicitor or insurance company).

I was recently pleased to see where neuroscientists have begun to study this phenomenon of 'migrating pain' more closely, as it is something I have commonly seen over the past 2 decades of practice. Unfortunately, in my work providing Independent statement dated evaluations of car accidents victims, and as a injury consultant using CRMA, I found many cases where doctors and insurance companies have argued against people with this condition, essentially saying “These new symptoms are not related to the original accident because they are not at the site where the original injury occurred” or “because the symptoms did not begin until months later”. In some cases, that may be correct, but it is certainly not true in every case. I feel a responsibility to my patients, to look at the clinical evidence and if possible, provide an honest and rational argument explaining why their injuries and new symptoms are in fact the result of the original injuries.

There is power in the detail

Performing a detailed initial history and physical evaluation is something that I believe is very important to do well for people with injuries that seek my assistance. Unfortunately, this is not always done. In fact, I can say with confidence, that for most of the injury cases I've seen where there were ten or more symptoms, I was the first health care professional to have specifically identified each of their symptoms and defined them in detail. With the personal help of Dr Bob Blanks, who was at the time a professor at Irvine Medical College, I have developed a system to quantify symptoms in a relatively objective way that illustrates a more documentation of the true nature of symptom usually discovered and documented.

If you or a loved one have been involved in a motor vehicle accident, you may need to consult with several healthcare professionals in order to find one who you are comfortable with and feel confident in their ability to help you gain an optimal recovery. Just because one practitioner cannot help you, does not mean another can’t. All too often, I have seen people give up hope before exhausting all avenues in order to receive the help they needed. Before giving up, think about the ramifications of that decision, not only to your own quality of life, but on your family and friends, not to mention your current & future productivity at work.

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What are your barriers and are they actually real

There truly are many different approaches and talented professionals who are well placed to help you to achieve your optimal recovery from injury. However, for years I have seen numerous barriers get in the way for people with injuries. It has stopped them choosing to find and receive effective treatment. Here is a list of just some of the barriers that I have seen:

• Not enough money to pay for treatment

• Cut off financial support by insurance

• Not enough time in the day

• Can’t get off work in time

• Hard to get out of the house

• Can’t get transport

• Too depressed or just “foggy in the head brained” to make the effort

• Family don’t support it or actively discourage it

• I’ve had it so long nothing seems to help anyway, why bother

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What Are Your Goals?

Most people have come to me with the goal "I just want to have less pain" and others say "I am worried about taking so much medication". There are also people who say they want to become more mobile and functional so they can be more fulfilled and productive again.

If you or someone you know has been in a Motor Vehicle Accident or had any form of injury, then please feel free to contact me at Body Mind Empowerment Centre and schedule an appointment for a 20 min low-cost consultation to answer your questions (without treatment) or to schedule a detailed initial evaluation (with treatment if deemed necessary). For more details on initial consultation options please click HERE.

If you would like to know what to expect at your full initial chiropractic consultation then please see my 6-minute video titled “What To Expect On Your First Two Visits” and be sure to tell our receptionist that you have been injured.

Jason W. Barritt B.Sc (Hons) DC
Chiropractor

For more details on car accidents and injuries, click here

LEARN MORE

References:

1. Accessed on 13.5.20 https://policenews.act.gov.au

2. Accessed on 13.5.20 https://www.budgetdirect.com.au

3. The Canberra Times, July 22, 2016

4. Blanks, R.H.; Shuster, T.L.; Dobson, M.A. Retrospective Assessment of Network Care Using a Survey of Self-Related Health, Wellness and Quality of Life, Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research, 1997,Vol. 1, No. 4, p. 15-31.

5. www.chiro.org.au/chiropractic-faqs accessed 24.10.20

6. Eur Spine J 3:162-164, 1994

7. Carroll, et. al., Objective Findings for Diagnosis of Whiplash, Journal of Musculoskeletal Medicine, March 1986

8. http://www.aihw.gov.au/injury/publications (Accessed 16.7.2016)

Why I Offer An Introductory Low Cost Consultation

I believe offering an initial low-cost consultation can be incredibly helpful to people who have never been to a chiropractor and do not know what to expect. I have also found that it is beneficial for people who have tried many types of treatment and not had much success. These people are reluctant to invest their time and money into yet another treatment approach without fully understanding it in order to feel more confident that it has a reasonable chance of success.

Even though 300,000 people consult a chiropractor in Australia each week, there are still many Australian's who don't understand what a chiropractor does and the many ways in which chiropractic may be able to help. This is one of the main reasons why I offer an initial low-cost consultation.

If this resonates with you then you probably also don't want to feel any obligation to continue if it doesn't feel ideal for you.

Did Your Aches And Pains
Begin As Just Mildly Annoying,
But Now They Are Quite Distracting?

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You may not look like this
but do you sometimes
feel like he does?

Unfortunately, many people are still hesitant about taking advantage of an offer for an initial low-cost chiropractic consultation. I have pondered the reasons behind this for years and would like to share a few of my thoughts here. 

Have you had the experience of being at a shopping center or at an expo, and even though you were there to experience new idea, products and possibly even buy something of value, you walked past and rejected an opportunity even though you actually thought it might be interesting? Perhaps you did this just because you thought someone was going to sell you something and you might not have what it takes to say no?

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When we look at it like that it seems silly, yet I have done it myself many times. There was one occasion when a very happy young man was offering me some free ice cream samples in a carbora centre, and I remember thinking, I wouldn’t mind trying that but I don’t know that I want to buy some now, and I’ll feel like I am obliged to buy it. In that case I pretended not to be interested, and walked past. Luckily for me, the young man was in a particularly positive and exuberant mood and called out to me, even after I had walked past, saying “Are you sure you want to pass this up, it’s really great, and it’s free”. He said it in a way that revealed how incredulous he was that I felt able to resist this opportunity for super tasty free ice creams on a hot day. It took only a second for me to stop and think, Yeah why not? I really, do want some! So I turned around with a smile & accepted his free gift.

If this 70 year old can improve the way his spine functions to this extent then perhaps you can too.

I think it’s interesting to point out that it did not matter to the young man whether I bought more ice cream after trying the sample. His focus was on sharing a sample of what he knew some people would enjoy. That is exactly how I feel when I am sharing what I know will be great news to some, and not the right timing for others. My focus during the initial low-cost consultation is being of service. I know this is true because there are times when I am amused at hearing my own enthusiasm, and feeling my satisfaction in identifying spinal issues that I am confident will be relatively easy to correct and could likely provide the person in front of me with a potential solution for their problems. I have done that day in and day out for well over 20 years, yet I get so much satisfaction that it’s as if it’s my first year in practice.

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Move Better, Feel Better,
LIVE BETTER

WHY I DO THIS. I offer a free consultation, primarily because of my life-long passion which began at age 12. My passion is to help people live the best life they can and to be able to do their best for their loved ones and friends around them. I do this by helping as many people as I can to optimise their health. This is one reason why the motto for our practice is
Move Better, Feel Better, LIVE BETTER!

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I remember when I first returned to Australia after being in the USA for 18 years. I wanted to find a dentist for the whole family so I called a couple of dental practices and asked, “Could I come and meet the dentist and ask him some questions before I bring my family?”  Basically, the answer was “Yes for $150”. I found this quite frustrating at the time because in the USA, many practitioners offer an introductory free consultation before the patient needs to feel committed to treatment.

In America, where I studied for my 4 year Doctor of Chiropractic degree and then worked as a chiropractor for 14 years, people don’t hesitate to accept things for free. Australians are not as good at that, and I think it’s for noble reasons, but it is also unfortunate. Australian’s don’t feel it’s honourable to take something without giving something in return. I’ve also found that Australians don’t want to feel obligated, whereas in America, being offered something for free is so commonplace that they just don’t worry about it.

In my initial low-cost consultation, I have seen many people who had almost totally convinced themselves that they had tried everything already, and so were quite sceptical.

Please do not feel obligated to return for chiropractic care with me if you don't feel that it's right for you. My reward is knowing that I assisted you on your journey back to health, simply by answering your questions to the best of my ability.

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Here in Australia, there have been times when I have treated someone who genuinely can’t afford to continue care, yet I felt confident that they were not quite as “healthy and pain free” as I know I could help them become if they did continue treatment. In those situations, I will sometimes offer the patient some free treatment in order for them to get closer to their optimal level of function and well-being. I have been surprised by how many people in Australia have said, “But that’s not fair to you” and have turned it down. What they didn’t realise is that they had then deprived me of the joy and satisfaction of completing their initial course of treatment. Had they let me do that, I may have also been able to witness their further overall health improvement. That can be very disappointing for me, because just like most of us, being able to experience a “job well done” is one of my greatest joys in life. 

I talk to friends who make 2 to 3 times as much money as I do, but some say how they only feel the stress and not the satisfaction they used to have. I enjoy a wonderful depth of joy and satisfaction in my work as a chiropractor. For example, I love to look back over the past 2½ decades and think about people who were able to return to work that never thought they’d work again. I can also think about people who are now back into their life-long hobbies such as gardening, knitting and fixing up old cars. There are many others who were able to return to their favorite sport. Others had goals such as being able to get back into the gym and in one case it was being able to hold her newborn granddaughter, which she then did get to enjoy.

Please understand that if I don’t think I can help you with whatever health goals you present with, I will let you know. While I can’t make guarantees, as individual results vary, the beauty of the initial low-cost consultation is that I will perform some very simple, safe, yet important functional tests. These tests can help determine if you have significant levels of nerve interference due to problems in your spine, which are reducing your body’s ability to perform as well as being the cause of your symptoms.

A symptom is usually the body's alarm bell saying “Something is not working properly…!” . Therefore, when we can improve function, the alarm bells may be silenced.

Can you see a change in right rotation in the second picture taken right after her very first NSA entrainment (treatment)? The initial NSA entrainment I perform involves very gentle touches to specific points on the back, neck and body. This typically results in neurological changes that can bring greater ease and improved function to many areas of the body.

This knowledge may then give both you and I a reasonable level of confidence about whether or not I can help you. People often have no idea that their spine is causing so many problems because their pain or other symptoms are not in their back or neck. In my initial low-cost consultation, I may be able to demonstrate to you that your painful area, be it in your shoulder, arm, leg, hip, jaw, or somewhere else such as a headache, is likely coming from dysfunction occurring in a specific location in your spine. The primary goal of my initial low-cost consultation is to find out if this could be a major factor holding you back in your in your quest for reduced symptoms and improved health.

Please note, this next point answers a common dilemma that I've seen Exasperate many people!

I have had humorous people tell me that… “If there’s a problem in the spine wouldn’t it have already shown up on x-ray or MRI?” In my experience, this is not always the case. For example, I have seen cases people with an obvious abnormality in their diagnostic reports that were not causing dysfunction. Other people had no apparent abnormality in their X-rays, CT scans or MRIs, yet had profound dysfunction & symptoms.

In summary, just because there is an abnormality, it does not mean there is going to be pain or other symptoms. Alternatively just because there is pain and an abnormal disc in the spine does not mean the disc is causing the pain. Further, just because someone has not got an obvious spinal abnormality does not mean they can’t have neurological dysfunction causing their symptoms.

A British study supports these assertions. It investigated the extent of agreement between two medical radiologists whose expertise was in the area of spinal injury. They were unable to agree on whether the spinal ligaments were ruptured or not and the study reported “…the spinal ligaments are commonly not visualized” (2)  

Mythbusting.
All too often MRI's are presented as the ultimate answer for many health problems. Unfortunately, the above research provides evidence that this is not always the case. For example, there was also a study done where MRI was used on one hundred people with no history who had never experienced back pain yet MRI showed many of those people had bulging lumbar discs. Therefore, just because a person has a bulging disc does not mean it is the cause of the pain. A doctor may still need to carefully correlate other tests before coming to that conclusion.

Further, I have seen a number of cases where a bulging disc has been blank or pains like leg pain (Africa). My trigger is able to completely stop the pain. Follow up the months later reveals that good pain has still not present. To me, its means it can be very important to first try surgical practitioner before more basis such as prestigious such as surgery spinal problems one such example such as bulging discs.

In fact, I have an orthopaedic patient of mine as an orthopaedic surgeon himself. He would often refer patients to chiropractic before considering surgeons in order to refer patients to chiropractic in order to see if they can afford surgeons.

Having said all that, if you have diagnostic tests relevant to your concerns, they can indeed be very useful, so please do bring them in.  I ran a company in the US where I created diagnostic reports for injured patients of other chiropractors using their X-rays. For more information on my experience in evaluating and treating injured people please visit https://bodymindec.com.au/chiro/car-accident-injury.

Textbooks & recent published research, teach us that a clinician needs to do a thorough physical evaluation from time to time in order to understand the way the body is functioning, rather than only ask questions and look at diagnostic tests. I was taught that in chiropractic college in the USA and continue to practise that way.

I have done hundreds of initial low-cost consultations which has given me an awareness of the level of frustration so many people have about finding a new practitioner. I have come across people who told me how they had been looking for a chiropractor for years, yet they had not been to one. I think what they were actually saying was “I didn’t know how to go about finding one”. I know there are also lots of people with feelings of despair because they don’t think there is any way to improve their condition and quality of life.

CAR ACCIDENT TREATMENT: This person had severe pain and stiffness for over a year when he first consulted with me. While the changes seen above occurred immediately after his first NSA entrainment session, it's important to understand that the speed of recovery varies between individuals and cannot be guaranteed.

Why some people delay chiropractic care? I enjoy helping people who originally had felt they were beyond help. In my initial low-cost consultation, I have seen numerous people who were clearly convinced that they had almost tried everything already and so were quite sceptical. I’m sure some were thinking, “Here is just one more person that may say ‘I can help you’ when I know, nobody can help me”.  Therefore, if this sounds a bit like you then it is reasonable that you might by cautious about accepting my offer of an initial low-cost consultation. Because of this, my commitment to you is that I will do my best not to make you feel uncomfortable if you accept my initial low-cost consultation and decide not to return for treatment.

One of my goals during the low-cost initial consultation is to see if I can find evidence to indicate whether or not I am likely to be able to help you, in the way I’ve been able to help hundreds of others. If I think it is likely that I can help you, then usually I am not only able to explain why but I may also be able to demonstrate it.

Sometimes we pass by opportunities because we are on a deadline, or at least think we are, just like when I passed by the young man who simply wanted to give me a free taste of ice cream. But since you are reading this article, I suspect your health is enough of a priority for you to make time to read about NSA care and watch some videos on this website. You can that information here… https://bodymindec.com.au/chiro/neuroplastic-treatment. You’ll then be in a more informed place to decide if you might benefit by my initial low-cost consultation.

INITIAL LOW-COST CONSULTATION: This 20-minute consultation is $59 and does not include treatment. I will, however, review and discuss any diagnostic reports such as x-rays, CT scans or MRIs with you and answer your questions. I will also give you a brief physical evaluation in order to determine if I can find a link between specific problems in your spine and your symptoms. Finding that link is, for me, often the first step in feeling more confident in knowing whether or not. I will be able to correct the cause of your symptoms.

This full-time ballerina practised or performed (including a lot of stretching), at least 8 hours a day, 6 days a week; yet NSA care still enabled her to change her maximum range of motion, as seen in these "before and after" pictures.

What you have just witnessed here, is something very few people in the world of fitness and performance appear to know about. That is, when spinal problems are interfering with the transmission of messages travelling from the brain to the body, or body to the brain, then no matter how much exercise or stretching you do, until you correct those spinal problems you might not be able to perform at your true best. I have been able to help dozens of athletes in a variety of sports by improving brain to the body communication. The same principle applies for people who have been injured or simply developed chronic problems over time.

I encourage you not to walk past this opportunity in the way I nearly did when I walked past the FREE ice cream samples. By stopping to try it, I discovered my new favorite ice cream... sugar-free dark chocolate! It was so good I go back from time to time and have told my friends about it.

Please Note: these results seen above are common but can not be guaranteed. People have different rates of healing as well as different history of injury, therefore individual results vary.

Jason W. Barritt B.Sc (Hons) DC
Chiropractor

1.   https://www.chiro.org.au/patients/about-chiropractic/ (accessed Nov 7, 2019)

2.   Saifuddin, A, et al. (2003).

Imagine if there was a way to feel like this again?

Accidents, Injuries & Chiropractic

Sometimes our world can be a pretty dangerous place; many of us have experienced a traumatic brush (or collision) with reality. Accidents may be unavoidable, but much of the resultant pain and suffering may, in many cases, be safely and gently addressed with chiropractic care. That is likely because many people who have experienced trauma also have subluxations: structural spinal distortions causing nerve interference that can lead to many symptoms. I have been studying and practicing chiropractic since 1990 and have taken many seminars in the area of injury documentation and treatment. For more information about my approach to treatment please click HERE.

Chiropractors play a vital role in the care of injured people

Doctors of chiropractic focus on locating and correcting subluxations using relatively safe, gentle, “adjustment” techniques.

From what I have seen in my practice, people can leave the emergency room with as many subluxations as when they entered it. I lived and worked as a chiropractor for many years in the USA. In America, some hospitals have employed chiropractors to assist in these situations. I worked near Fort Carson, Colorado where chiropractors (commissioned military officers) had such long lines of soldiers waiting to see them with a range of injuries and symptoms including chronic neck pain, knee pain, shoulder pain and other issues that a few consulted with me, even though they had to pay for it, rather than wait in those long lines.

Physical problems after injury

Accidents can cause injuries leading to shoulder pain, arm pain, wrist, hand, leg pain, headaches as well as back pain, arthritis pain, and even jaw and facial pain. I have assisted many injured people with those symptoms. Some people present with one or two conditions and others have had dozens of symptoms develop as a result of a single event such as a car accident. For example, I had one person here in Canberra that was referred to me by her GP, who had 52 different symptoms.

Since, for me, one of the main objectives of chiropractic is to reduce nerve interference caused by spinal subluxations in order to restore optimal nerve function, and since chiropractic can, in some cases, profoundly assist the above-listed health issues, it's no wonder why 300 000 people seek chiropractic care in Australia every week. (Reference here https://www.chiro.org.au/patients/about-chiropractic) With NDIS, car accident insurance, DVA and workers compensation schemes paying to some extent for chiropractic care, people with access to those programs are seeking assistance after injury.

There is a substantial amount of scientific support for the use of chiropractic in the care of injuries. One example can be found in a British study titled Chiropractic treatment of chronic ‘whiplash’ injuries, “Twenty-eight patients were selected at random from chiropractic referrals for chronic ‘whiplash’ syndrome…” The patients’ symptoms before and after treatment were assessed blind by an independent chiropractor and an orthopaedic surgeon. The authors made the statement:

“… chiropractic treatment has been shown to be advantageous compared to conventional medicine in the treatment of low back pain.”

They then concluded “The results of this retrospective study would suggest that benefits can also occur in over ninety percent of patients undergoing chiropractic treatment for chronic ‘whiplash’ injury.” A follow-up study by some of the same authors in The Journal of Orthopaedic Medicine, reported:

“Our results confirm the efficacy of chiropractic, with 69 of our 93 patients (74%) improving following treatment.” The study concluded “The results from this study provide further evidence that chiropractic is an effective treatment for chronic whiplash symptoms.”

For more information on our experience in working with accidents, click here

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“You'll have to learn to live with it”

Many people have been told that they’ll just have to “learn to live with it," but it isn’t always true. Anyone who has been in an accident or had various forms of trauma, no matter how long ago, may still be able to make substantial progress in their efforts towards recovery with chiropractic care. I have taken care of dozens of people after hospital treatment for injuries ranging from fractured neck, fractured back and two cases of multiple pelvic fractures, to repetitive injury as well as work injuries and car accidents. While I cannot guarantee results in every case, I have seen many times when chiropractic care has made the difference between struggling with a life of pain, restriction and suffering to a life of ease, productivity and improved overall quality of life.

The Value of Experience

While it is not possible for any treating provider to predict the level of anticipated success in every case, over 20 years of experience helps me to assess injured people and have a reasonable level of confidence about whether or not I can help them to make progress towards a more complete recovery.

Having provided written chiropractic opinions as an official state “Independent Medical Evaluator” to dozens of car accident victims in Colorado, who were being treated by other chiropractor, I have seen cases where people have received excellent care as well as cases where that care was not ideal. This experience leads me to believe that it is important to do a very detailed initial evaluation, and if applicable, to then include treatment, in order to be able to make a prediction about whether or not the person is likely to make progress.

If, after my detailed initial evaluation, I find good evidence that progress is likely, then I will recommend a specific treatment plan with a thorough re-evaluation in 4 to 6 weeks. At that point, I will usually provide a detailed written report documenting my findings to the managing GP. I am usually also able to include notes on a range of symptomatic and functional improvements in that report.

Working As Part Of Your Accident Recovery Team

Several GPs and solicitors in the ACT have found that this approach has been helpful in better understanding the nature of injuries for some of their patients and clients. Another goal of mine is to document the negative impact that injuries have had upon the lives of my injured patients. I do this primarily to help me monitor the progress of my patients which helps me to ensure my treatment continues to be beneficial, however, in the process of doing this documentation, it can be very useful to the injured person's GP and solicitor.

I have benefited from physio myself and all of my children have sought assistance from physiotherapists. I have had some injury cases, where I have had the opportunity to interact with the patient's physiotherapist to the benefit of the patient. My objectives and methods are usually very different to the physio and a physio's work is very beneficial, therefore, with good communication, there are times where both chiropractic and physio together, can offer more to the patient than just one or the other.

Jason W. Barritt B.Sc (Hons) DC
Chiropractor

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References:

1. A symptomatic classification of whiplash injury and the implications for treatment. Khan S, Cook J, Gargan M. Bannister G The Journal of Orthopaedic Medicine 21[1] 1999.

2. Hadley LA. Intervertebral joint subluxation, bony impingement and foramen encroachment with nerve root change. Am J Roentgenology and Radiological Therapeutics. 1951;65:337-402.

3. Braaf MM, Rosner S, Gukelberger M. Trauma of cervical spine as cause of chronic headache. J Trauma. 1975;15:441-446.

4. Gukelberger M. The uncomplicated post-traumatic cervical syndrome. Scand J Rehabilitative Med. 1972;4:150-153.